Jaune Arc, Gryphon Knight
by Nerdlydelicious
Summary: There are many legends throughout Remnant. Some true, some false, but there is one story that few know, and fewer believe in. The great Gryphon Knights of old, the mightiest foes of the Grimm. Most believe the legends to be just that, legends, but when team JNPR is sent on a mission to a secluded village, Jaune will learn the truth of the stories, and his family's connection to it.
1. Chapter 1

**HEEEELLLOOOOO EVERYONE! If you haven't already then please check out my story The Vagabond, another RWBY fanfiction. Both have Jaune as a main character and focus on him improving and changing as a person and a warrior. My other story "The Vagabond" picks up a month after the fall of Beacon, while this one will start a week after Forever Fall in volume 1.**

 **Now in this story there's going to be two things I'm changing right off the bat. One: Jaune's weapon. It will no longer be his sword Crocea Mors with a shield/sheathe. Instead It will be a Halberd called Brillant Mors, or shining death in english. Other than that the story is pretty much the same up until where this fic picks up. Jaune is still a bad fighter, he still has a crush on Weiss, Pyrrha still has a crush on him, and no one has died yet (spoilers for those of you who haven't seen volume 3). Other than the halberd the events of volume 1 up to this point haven't changed, including Jaune killing the Ursa Major and saving Cardin's life. I will be doing my best to follow the story line of the show but will of course be changing things as needed to suit the fanfic.**

 **The second thing is that I will be renaming the Griffons, the Pegasus looking Grimm in volume 3 to, you guessed it, Pegasus. I mean they already look like pegasi anyway right? and It'll help clear up any confusion over which kind of gryphon I'm talking about when I say gryphon in the story**

 **This chapter will pretty much be a prologue chapter, so chapter two will be where we pick up after forever fall. With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

 **Prologue: Fall of the Order.**

They chanted his name as the slammed the ends of their weapons against the floor, shields, or breastplates.

 _"Arc! Arc! Arc!"_

Those in his path stepped to the side as he walked through their formation. His white full plate armor covered him from head to toe, his helmet strapped to his side. Brillant Mors, his ever reliable halberd, was gripped in both hands, the low torch light glinting of the dust treated steel.

 _"Arc! Arc! Arc!"_

They faced certain death. He knew it. His men knew it. There was no escape. On the other side of the massive double doors leading to the interior of the Order's fortress was an army of Grimm, uncountably large. They would all die here. Their corpses would be naught but Grimm food when they fell. There would be no funeral rites sung, no great feasts to celebrate their memory, because they were all going to die here. Yet no man felt fear at the death waiting outside the door, and why would they? Every man there was a warrior of the Lady of Light. They were the bastion against darkness, and even in death they would strike a blow against the shadows.

And he?

He was the greatest of all the Lady's warriors.

He was Her Champion, Her will incarnate. He was their leader, their Knight-Lord.

The first Gryphon Knight, Cailan Arc.

Out in front of his men Cailan turned and faced them. Their weapons slammed as one against the nearest hard surface, shaking the walls with their force of impact.

 _"ARC! ARC! ARC! KNIGHT-LORD ARC!"_

He raised Brillant Mors in one hand, and at the same time as his men slammed the pommel against the stone floor in a final crash that shook the very mountain their fortress was situated upon.

Silence filled the hall as he gazed out upon his men. Blue eyes burned with inner power. Every inch of his tall and muscular body was covered in full plate and chain mail. Messy blonde hair framed his face, and thick blonde facial hair covered the lower part of his face. If one looked closely they could see a hint of silver in his hair, hinting at his age.

"Men," he called, his deep and powerful voice radiating throughout the hall, "the enemy has us surrounded."

No one spoke, but at the mention of their hated foes the Grimm their eyes hardened, and furious snarls twisted their faces.

"And at the head of the horde is the witch herself atop her mount. The goddess of darkness, Salem."

This time roars of rage and defiance shook the hall, and Cailan Arc had no doubt that Salem could hear them clearly. He held up a hand, and all fell silent.

"In a way we should be honored. Our greatest foe has come in person to ensure both our destruction and the destruction of the Order. I will not lie to you my brothers. We who remain here shall die. However, the Order shall not die here. Sir Marusus, step forward."

From behind the formation of soldiers a black haired man in full plate and clutching a Halberd similar to Cailan's walked forward, the men in formation stepping out of his way as he walked forward with Cailan's personal Gryphon, Talon.

All gryphons were mighty beasts, part lion, part eagle, and large enough for a man to ride, but even amongst other gryphons Talon was magnificent. Like all gryphons his rear half and legs were that of a lion's, but instead of fur its body was covered in feathers, save for its mane. Massive wings sprouted from his front shoulder blades, powerful enough to create gusts of wind strong enough to knock several men off their feet. His head was that of an eagle's with a beak powerful enough to rip through the toughest Grimm hide. His retractable claws were long and just as deadly as his beak. Where most full grown gryphons were tall enough to be ridden Talon was taller than most men, making him a truly massive beast of war. Normally Talon wore armor that covered his entire body like all gryphons that were ridden into battle, but today his body was barren of his war gear. Talon would not be taking part in this final battle. He would be part of something far more important, and far more difficult. He was leaving the fortress behind to go into hiding so that someday he would be of use to House Arc in the future.

As Marusus reached his Knight-Lord he knelt and held out his own halberd in both hands. Cailan took the proffered weapon and placed Brillant Mors in the hand of his most loyal knight. "Marusus. Do you understand why I entrust this task to you? Brillant Mors must be returned to my family so that my descendants may take it up. Talon must be taken to a mountain far, far away and put into the great sleep, so that he will wake when the time has come. all of our remaining gryphon eggs have been hidden all over remnant in places where Salem will never find them, and have been placed into hibernation until one who is worthy of a gryphon mount finds them. I know it pains you to leave us to die old friend, but always remember that it is the duty of yourself and your ancestors to safe guard the remnants of our order and ensure that it may be revived someday."

"I understand my lord," said the kneeling Gryphon Knight.

"Then rise my knight, my brother in arms, and embrace me." The two men embraced, knowing this would be the last time they saw one another in this world, and separated. Marusus stepped aside as Talon stepped forward and bumped his beak against Cailan's neck, cawing mournfully. Cailan wrapped his arms around the massive war beast's neck. He felt a single tear appear in the corner of his eye, but he forced it back. It would not do to cry in front of his men. Cailan spoke no words to his mount. He did not have to. The telepathic bond shared by gryphons and their riders negated the need for words. However as he released the creature's neck and placed his forehead against Talon's beak he whispered a final message to his beloved mount. "Look for the scion of House Arc."

With that he released his mount, and Marusus and Talon left the great hall where the remnants of the Order were gathered, heading to a secret exit that would allow them to escape from the Grimm and find a safe place for Talon while he fell under the spell of the great sleep.

Marusus and Talon gone, Cailan turned back to his men. He raised the halberd he had taken from Marusus over his head. "Men! We march out against the darkness one final time! We are the warriors of Vaya, the goddess of light! We are the foes of darkness!"

He gazed out at his men, pride welling in his heart at the fearless faces that gazed back, knowing what he was about to say.

"Men!" roared Knight-Lord Arc, "who are we?!"

 _"We are the blades of the light!"_

"Who are we?!"

 _"We are the flame of hope!"_

Cailan felt pride and righteous rage building up in his soul in equal measure. " _Who. Are. We?!"_

"WE ARE THE BLADES OF THE LIGHT! WE ARE THE FLAME OF HOPE! WE ARE THE FOES OF DARKNESS! WE ARE THE WARRIORS OF VAYA!"

"MEN!" roared Cailan Arc. "PREPARE FOR WAR!"

Thousands of voices roared in jubilation as they rushed to their gryphon mounts. Their magnificent steeds clawed the ground anxiously, knowing the Grimm were just outside the massive double doors, clawing and smashing at the door in a vain attempt to get in. Gripping Marusus's halberd Cailan mounted his old friend's gryphon, named Razorclaw. Not as large as Talon, Razorclaw was an older gryphon, and thus far calmer than his younger brethren, but Cailan could feel the energy thrumming through the war beast's body. It smelled Grimm, and It wanted nothing more than to tear them apart.

All saddled, the Gryphon Knights formed up, waiting for the order from their Knight-Lord at the front of the formation. Down a long and massive hallway was an equally massive set of double doors. Beyond those doors lay the Grimm, and atop her dragon mount, Salem herself. the Knight-Lord offered up a final prayer to the Lady, and turned to the man next to him. "Open the doors."

The knight trotted his gryphon over to the lever in the wall that opened the double doors, pulled it down, and rushed back to his place in the line as the doors slowly groaned open.

The noise coming from outside the door was almost staggering in its intensity. Roars, howls, snarls, and hisses rent the air, loud enough to drown out all other sound, save for one.

"FOR THE LADY! FOR REMNANT! CHARGE!" With a shriek of rage Razorclaw charged onward, spurred on by Cailan as he lowered his halberd at the Grimm who began to pour through the now open doors.

Thousands of roars and shrieks of enraged gryphon knights and gryphons alike rent the air and drowned out even the bestial sounds of the Grimm as the ground shook beneath the paws of charging gryphons. The blade of every man's weapon glowed with a white light that burned the creatures of Grimm as they roared their devotion to the light.

"FOR VAYA!"

Of all the lights Cailan's was the greatest. Even without Brillant Mors Cailan was still Vaya's Champion, and the light emanating from the blade of his halberd was enough to drive the Grimm before him as they fled in fear.

They could not run nearly far enough to escape the rage of the Order of Light.

The Gryphon Knights smashed into the Grimm with the force of an avalanche. Grimm were shattered under the paws of gryphons, ripped apart by beak and claws, or cut down by the glowing weapons of Vaya's knights. At the front Cailan and Razorclaw reaped the greatest tally. Cailan lashed out on all sides with his halberd, the light burning the Grimm as his blade cut through them with ease. All the while keen blue eyes searched until finally he saw _her._

Salem, atop her dragon, with hundreds more of the monstrosities hovering in the air beside her along with many thousands of lesser airborne Grimm. Cailan raised his halberd and pointed it at Salem. "Knights! To the skies!"

The massive wings of gryphons unfurled, and they all took to the sky, heading directly towards Salem.

With a flick of her hand Salem sent the lesser airborne Grimm towards the knights, knowing it would only slow them down at best. Nevermore and Pegasi were smashed aside by the knights, hardly even slowing their rapid ascension towards the goddess of darkness.

As the knights drew closer to Salem however, the glow on their weapons faded and quickly failed, the strength of Salem's magic crushing their lights.

All but one.

Dimmed slightly, but in no way fading Cailan's light continued to burn as he flew towards Salem, his halberd couched and pointing directly at her.

With a contemptuous smile and a wave of her hand Salem sent her dragons flying towards Vaya's knights with great earth shaking roars.

The very air seemed to quake as the two sides clashed.

the Gryphon Knights were valiant and fearless, but none save Cailan could hope to be a match against a Dragon on their own. Scores of knights and gryphons were knocked down to earth by the teeth, tails, claws, and fire breath of the dragons. Those who survived landing fought to the bitter end against the earthbound Grimm, and slew scores of them individually, but were eventually overwhelmed by sheer numbers as they were dragged down and ripped apart. However the dragons, the greatest of Salem's creations, fared little better. Even with their lights quashed the Gryphon Knights of the Order fought savagely against the dragons. As wounds accrued the dragons fell to earth one by one, and either died upon impact or were finished off by the knights. As the last of both dragons and knights fell to earth only two remained in the skies. Knight-Lord Cailan Arc, Champion of Vaya, and Grimm mother Salem, the goddess of evil in the flesh.

The goddess laughed, but it was strained and forced as she watched the last of her dragons fall. "You think killing them will change anything? After I kill you your order will be _gone._ I won't need the dragons to crush whatever pathetic resistance the rest of humanity manages to cobble together. The Order of Light was the last great threat to my plans, and now it has been extinguished, all save for you, Cailan Arc, so called _champion._ Look around you. My creatures of darkness, My Grimm, cover the land as far as the eye can see. You have failed. Your Order has failed. Vaya has failed."

Indeed no matter where Cailan looked the Grimm were everywhere, like a black carpet smothering the land. Lesser men would have felt fear or doubt, but Cailan felt no such things. He knew his duty was not to stop Salem. That would fall to another, far far into the future. His duty was to ensure that the world survived long enough for that other to be born.

Without saying a word Cailan leveled his halberd at Salem. The message was clear. Salem sent walls of pure shadow at Cailan and his mount which Cailan smashed through with his glowing halberd. He flew directly at Salem, Razorclaw shrieking in rage. Salem's dragon roared in response as it soared towards Cailan and Razorclaw. The airborne foes smashed into each other, the mounts clawing and snapping at each other as Salem created a sword of pure blackness and clashed with Cailan.

It was clear who held the upper hand. Razorclaw was a crafty and viscious creature, but he could not hope to match the insane ferocity of the dragon, who claws and teeth cut through metal and flesh with ease. The same was true of Salem and Cailan. He fought with all his might, slamming his still glowing halberd into Salem's black blade with enough force to shatter granite and crumple steel, but Cinder deflected each and every attack with ease, her own counter attacks nearly knocking the halberd out of the Champion's grip. But Cailan was counting on her hubris to be her undoing and leave herself open.

Soon enough he was proven right as Salem's dragon landed the final blow on Razorclaw. With a lunge of its head it closed it jaws around Razorclaw's throat, crushing the gryphon's neck almost immediately, but also unwittingly leaving its rider open. Salem herself briefly took her eyes off of Cailan to watch the life flicker and die in his mount's eyes, a grin of blood lust on her ivory face. Cailan leaped from the back of his dying mount onto the neck of the dragon and raised the halberd for an overhead stab. Salem's eyes widened in fear as she tried to raise her sword to deflect the blow, but both she and Cailan knew it would be too late to stop him.

Salem shrieked in agony as the Knight-Lord's glowing blade sunk into her chest. He roared in defiance as black waves of energy radiated out from Salem and killed everything around her within a several mile radius, including her dragon.

As life left the dragon Salem and Cailan fell to earth, the halberd still lodged in her chest as she wailed. With a final burst of black energy Salem disappeared, fleeing back to the Grimm lands with what was a severely grave wound, even for a goddess.

Cailan could feel his body going numb from the waves of energy as he fell, life quickly leaving him. He closed his eyes and saw the one whose duty it would be to safeguard the world from Salem when she returned to full power. He was young, untrained, uncertain, and afraid. So _very_ afraid. But beneath a scrawny frame and nervous grip on Brillant Mors there was something there. A spark. Of hope? Courage? Rage? All three of these and more? Cailan did not know, but he did know that this boy was the Scion of House Arc, and fated to be Vaya's champion. A smile came to Cailan's lips as he whispered the boy's name.

"Jaune Arc..."

The Knight-Lord never felt his body hit the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**HEEEELLOOOOOO! I am so glad that the prologue for this story got such good reception. It means a lot to me that y'all are enjoying reading this at least as much as I'm enjoying writing it. I don't have much to say before we get into the story except I do want to address two questions that two reviewers had in case some other readers had the same questions.**

 **First, ArmantusCumPinnae (heh) asked how old the legend of the Gryphon Knights are and how Cailan Arc already knew what Jaune looked like. To that I say wait and see! All of that will be explained within this and the next chapter, I promise.**

 **Second, HK987GFR asked if Jaune was going to be a more competent fighter in this fic than in the show. To that I say no. Jaune is still the same Jaune. The only thing I've changed is his weapon. Jaune is still a bad fighter. At least for now (*winks*). The beautiful thing about character development is that characters _develop_. Jaune won't be helpless forever, I promise.**

 **With all of that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

Jaune Arc...

What a curious boy.

Professor Ozpin sat at his desk in his office, sipping coffee out of his mug as he went over Jaune's results in his classes. They were disappointing, which was unsurprising considering that Jaune had absolutely no formal training as a huntsman if his falsified transcripts were anything to go by.

Ozpin had known Jaune transcripts had been forged from the moment they had been entered into the database. For all intents and purposes the headmaster should have denied him entry to Beacon, and had every right to do so. He was untrained, untested, and unprepared for a Huntsman's life. There had been only one reason Ozpin had not done so. The headmaster of Beacon opened a desk drawer and very carefully pulled out an ancient roll of parchment. Very gently he laid the parchment on the table and unrolled it. On the parchment was a faded but still discernible drawing. A young man wearing a breastplate and spaulders clutching a halberd in both hands. Beneath the man was a name, but it was so faded that Ozpin could not make it out.

Ozpin had studied the image on the parchment more times than he could count, trying to figure out who this young man was. Besides his armor the young man's apparel was modern, not what would have been worn ten thousand years ago. When he had seen Jaune Arc's face on his transcripts he had immediately compared the young man on the parchment to Jaune.

It was an exact match.

Every detail was exactly the same. The clothes, the armor, the halberd, even the way his messy hair was arrayed, everything about him was exactly like how it was in the drawing.

It should have been impossible. The drawing was over ten thousand years old, but there could be no denying what was right in front of him. Somehow the Order of Light had known about Jaune. To top it all off, Jaune's ancestor, Cailan Arc, had been Knight-Lord of the Order. Ozpin did not believe in coincidence or chance. This was fated. This uncertain, untrained, untested boy had a role to play in the fate of Remnant, and it was Ozpin's duty to ensure that he was ready to take on that role when the time came. He pulled out his scroll and dialed in Glydna's number. "Glynda, I want you to send team Juniper to me. I have a task for them."

* * *

Jaune groaned as he hit the ground again for what must have been the hundredth in the past thirty minutes, his halberd flying out of his hands again. He pushed himself to his feet and grabbed Brillant Mors from where it lay on the ground. He leaned against his weapon, trying to catch his breath and wiping the sweat from out of his eyes.

"Why don't we take a break Jaune? We've got the rest of the weekend to train." Pyrrha Nikos walked over to him and placed a hand on the sweaty blonde's shoulder. Without saying a word he sat down. She sat next to him and handed him a water bottle, which he accepted gratefully and guzzled the contents. "You're getting better," said Pyrrha as she sat next to him, resisting the urge to lean against him and rest her head in the crook of his neck, "at the rate you're going you'll be up to par with the other first years in no time."

Jaune smiled and pushed the hair out of his face with a blush that the red head found adorable. "Thanks Pyrrha, though I don't think I'm doing _that_ good. I can't even touch you."

 _You could if you just asked._ "You don't give yourself enough credit. Compared to a week ago you've improved in leaps and bounds, and even back then you were able to kill an Ursa Major."

Jaune gave her a knowing look. "Yes, but that was with your help."

This time it was Pyrrha's turn to blush. "I-I don't know what you mean."

"Come on Pyrrha. I'm a bad fighter, not an idiot. I know you used your semblance to pull Brillant Mors into position at the last minute to block that Ursa's paw."

Pyrrha gulped. "Jaune I-"

He patted her shoulder reassuringly. "It's okay Pyrrha I'm not mad, promise. Without your help I wouldn't have been able to kill it in the first place. I'm really grateful for everything you're doing for me. If there's anything I can do, _anything_ , you just have to ask."

Anything?

An idea formed in Pyrrha's head. It was crazy, probably wouldn't work, and it might have just been the adrenaline pumping in her system making her even consider going through with it, but Pyrhha Nikos doubted she'd get a better chance to ask Jaune out on a date.

"Well Jaune," she said slowly as she looked away from the blonde, "if you're not busy tomorrow maybe we could-"

The door to the roof slammed open. "JAUUUUUUNE! PYRRHAAAAAA!"

The two jumped in surprise as Nora skipped across the roof to them. "Guess what you guys?!"

Pyrhha tried not be upset at Nora for interrupting her first attempt to get Jaune to go on a date with her, but she couldn't completely forgive the ginger.

"What's up Nora?" asked Jaune as he pushed himself to his feet with his halberd.

"Headmaster Ozpin wants to see us!"

Jaune blanched. "H-he does? Do you know why?"

"Nope!" chirped Nora.

"And he wants to see _all_ of us? Not Just me?"

"Of course silly! Why would he want to see just you?"

Jaune laughed nervously. "Yeah, yeah you're right."

Pyrrha placed her hand on Jaune's shoulder reassuringly. She knew he must have been thinking about his forged transcripts. They hadn't told Ren and Nora about the transcripts yet. It had taken Jaune a lot of courage to just tell her about them, and even then it had backfired in the form of Cardin Winchester finding out. Of course Cardin had sworn to never tell anyone after Jaune had saved his life. Interestingly enough Jaune had believed Cardin's vow of silence. "He's a lot of things, " Jaune had said, "but I don't think he's a liar."

"Come on!" said Nora, "Ren's already waiting for us at the headmaster's office."

* * *

As the three of them walked down the hallway Jaune kept a calm appearance on his face, seemingly unconcerned about the summons to the headmaster's office. On the inside however Jaune was having a minor heart attack.

Why would Ozpin want to see his team? It couldn't be about the transcripts. If it was then he would have called for just Jaune. Or would he? Would Ozpin give him away in front of his entire team? He might, but how could he have found out? The man who had supplied the transcripts had assured him that they would look legitimate. Would Cardin have talked? Told Ozpin out of spite despite giving his word?

No. Jaune didn't think so. Cardin had done a lot of things to Jaune and others, but he had never lied. If Cardin had said he wouldn't talk then he wouldn't talk. Could someone else have found out? Or could Ozpin just _know_? He seemed like the kind of guy who could just _know_ things.

Jaune leaped a foot in the air when he felt a hand on his arm. He calmed down when he realized that it was only Pyrrha. "Jaune, we're here."

Jaune realized that he had been completely out of it the entire walk down the hallway. The three of them stood outside the elevator to the headmaster's office. Next to the elevator stood Ren. The four of them got into the the elevator. Jaune hit the button for Ozpin's office and they began their ascent, all the while listening to show tunes.

"Never took Ozpin for a show tunes kind of guy," mused Jaune.

"I always thought he would be more into something more relaxing. Meditative music perhaps," said Ren.

"I always thought he'd be into pop!" said Nora.

"You think _everyone_ is into pop," said Pyrrha.

"Well they should be," replied an indignant Nora, "it's just so... poppy!"

"Poppy is a seed Nora, not an adjective."

"Aw don't be such a downer Ren! You need to listen to more pop! You'd be so much more-"

"Please don't say poppy."

"Fiiiiiine," groaned Nora, just as the elevator doors opened to Ozpin's office.

The four of them entered and stood in front of Ozpin's desk, waiting for him to speak. He eyed them in turn, starting at Ren on one end and working his way to the other. It did not escape Jaune's notice that the headmaster's gaze lingered on him the longest, making the blonde even more nervous about why they had been called to his office.

"I'm sure you're all anxious to know why I've called you here, so I'll cut to the chase. Team Juniper; I have a mission for you."

Jaune had to suppress a sigh of relief. This wasn't about his transcripts then. thank _god_.

"A mission?" asked Pyrrha. "With all due respect Headmaster, wouldn't a more senior team be better suited to take on a mission?"

"Normally yes," said Ozpin, "but this is a special case. The mission in question is a very simple one, far too simple for a second or third year team. A small village in the northern end of Vale has reported a number of their livestock going missing. No humans have died or been attacked, but there has been a sighting of a small pack of ten Beowulves in the area. Normally a fully fledged Huntsman would respond to this call for help, but strangely enough this call came directly to me, and requested a team of students to handle the situation."

Jaune frowned, his curiosity taking the fore now that he wasn't worried about his transcripts being brought up. "Who placed the request? Did they ask for us specifically?"

"A man named Nathaniel placed the request, and no he did not request your team. I considered sending a Huntsman with your team, but considering that the threat is only ten Beowulves I decided that sending a huntsman would be excessive. However, the fact that this pack has attacked only isolated livestock and not the people of the village does suggest that these Grimm are of the more intelligent variety. I have faith in your ability to handle even the more intelligent Grimm, but keep on your guard. It only takes one wrong move to bring an abrupt end to your blossoming careers as Huntsmen."

"Will that be all headmaster?" asked Ren.

"For the three of you yes. However I would like to speak with Mr. Arc in private. Go and collect your gear and report to the Bullhead pads. Your team leader will join you shortly."

Jaune stiffened as the others nodded and walked to the elevator, Pyrhha looking over her shoulder anxiously at Jaune.

The elevator door shut as the elevator began its descent. Ozpin turned his attention back to Jaune, who shuffled nervously and stared at the floor.

"Mr. Arc," said Ozpin as he gazed unwaveringly at Jaune, "do you know this Nathaniel?"

Jaune frowned and looked up to meet the headmaster's eyes. Why would the headmaster ask him something like that? "No sir. I don't know anyone named Nathaniel."

"Are you sure Mr. Arc? Think carefully. A family friend? Someone your mother or father merely mentioned in passing?"

Jaune's face scrunched up in concentration as he wracked his brain in an attempt to remember the name Nathaniel, and came up blank. His parents had never mentioned anyone with a name even similar to Nathaniel. "No sir, nothing. Why are you asking?"

"Mr. Arc; I said that this Nathaniel did not ask for your team specifically, which is true. He did not ask for your _team_." Ozpin looked at Jaune over the rim of his glasses. Jaune felt like the headmaster was staring into his very soul.

"He asked for _you_ Mr. Arc."

"W-what?" stuttered Jaune. Why would this Nathaniel guy ask for him when Jaune didn't even know who he was? Jaune's own village was in the southern end of Vale, about as far away from this Nathaniel's home in the north as it could be while still being in Vale, so there was almost no way he could know Jaune.

"If you're sure you do not know this man then you have every reason to refuse this mission. I can send another team, or a full fledged huntsman to handle the mission. Juniper would never have to leave the school."

Jaune thought about it. He didn't know why this Nathaniel had asked for him, but if Ozpin thought he was dangerous then he would have never even brought up the mission to JNPR, would he?

"What... what do you think we should do sir?"

"You want my opinion Mr. Arc?"

"Well, I mean you are the headmaster. Aren't we supposed to listen to what you say?"

Ozpin's gaze grew in intensity, and Jaune found himself staring at the floor, unable to meet the headmaster's eyes.

"Mr. Arc, if you had listened to everything I said then you would not even be here, as we both know you should not be."

Jaune's hands clamped down on Brillant Mors so hard that they went completely white under his gloves. He felt the color drain from his face as his whole body shook. He felt his stomach churning, and somehow managed to resist the urge to throw up. He couldn't make his eyes look up from the floor.

 _He knows. Ozpin knows everything._

This was it. Ozpin was going to tell him to pack up and get out of his school, unless he was arrested on the spot and thrown in jail.

"But if you want my opinion in this situation then I think you and your team should go. This man could have entirely legitimate reasons for requesting you, and I have an instinctual feeling that you should go. Over the years I've learned to trust my instincts when it comes to judging people's worth Mr. Arc, which is very fortunate for you. Do you understand?"

Jaune couldn't speak. He feared that if he opened his mouth bile would come spewing out. He nodded instead.

"Very good," said the headmaster as he sat back in his chair and started reading something on his scroll. "Go and meet up with your team Mr. Arc. I don't expect this mission to take longer than a day or two at the most, so if your team does not return by tomorrow night I will send a Huntsman to assist."

Jaune nodded again and all but ran out of the headmaster's office, slamming his finger into the ground floor button.

When the elevator opened he stumbled out and ran to the nearest bathroom, throwing the door open and stumbling into the first open stall to puke his guts into the toilet bowl. When he was finished emptying his stomach he went to the sink and washed the taste out of his mouth.

 _He knows about my transcripts. He's always known about them._

But that didn't make sense. Why would Ozpin let him into Beacon if he knew that his transcripts were fakes? Why would he make him a team leader? Especially on a team with Pyrrha _freaking_ Nikos?

"Focus Jaune, focus." He splashed his face with water, forcing himself to think.

Okay, so Ozpin knew about the transcripts. That was obvious now, but he hadn't done anything with that knowledge. He hadn't kicked him out or punished him in anyway. Why not? What reason would he have for letting him remain in Beacon? What did he gain?

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," he muttered to himself. If Ozpin had decided not to kick him out, then he wasn't going to question it. He grabbed his halberd from where he had lent it against the bathroom wall and headed to the Bullhead pads in front of the school.

When he arrived the rest of JNPR was waiting for him with their his pack alongside their own. When Pyrrha saw him she jogged over to him waving. Her smile turned into a frown of concern as she drew closer to him. "Jaune? Is something wrong?"

Apparently he wasn't as good as hiding his emotions as he thought. That was hardly surprising. He checked to be sure Ren and Nora were out of earshot before he leaned in close to her and whispered, "Ozpin knows about my fake transcripts."

Pyrrha stumbled back as if struck. "W-what? But, how? He's not going to make you leave, is he? Jaune, tell me he's not going to make you leave."

"He's not," Jaune assured her. "For whatever reason he's letting me stay at Beacon, though I think I should keep my nose clean for awhile and fly under the radar."

Pyrhha laughed, but it was out of nervousness rather than actual humor. "Yes that might be a good idea."

The two of them returned to Ren and Nora, who were eyeing them with interest. "Everything okay?" asked Nora.

"Yeah," said Jaune, "just some stuff about the guy that placed the request. Turns out he requested me personally for this mission."

The three of them stared at him in shock. "You know that Negan guy?" asked Nora in amazement.

"Nathaniel," corrected Jaune, "and no, I don't, but he clearly knows who I am."

That look of concern returned to Pyrrha's eyes, "Jaune, if this man you don't know requested you personally then don't you think it might be better if a full fledged huntsman went?"

Jaune thought about Ozpin's words back in his office. "Ozpin thinks we should go, and if Ozpin thinks its a good idea to do something then we should probably do it." His three teammates nodded and the four of them headed to the waiting Bullhead. When they boarded the Bullhead took off, the pilot having already been informed of their destination. Jaune braced himself for the inevitable air sickness, and prayed that he would be able to keep from throwing up until they were off the ship. He did _not_ want to be trapped in a Bullhead with a smell like that. Surprisingly enough as the Bullhead gained altitude Jaune's airsickness did not get as intense as it normally did. His stomach still churned, and he still felt lightheaded, but he didn't feel the urge to throw up.

 _Huh. So throwing up before getting on an airship helps with airsickness. Who knew?_

Not that Jaune would want to throw up every time he needed to get on an airship. If he was going to throw up either way then what was the point? The only thing he could do now was try to take his mind off of his airsickness. He had many ways of doing this, listening to music, playing a game, or reading, but by now both he and his teammates knew better than to try to talk to him on an airship as it only made him more sick. His favorite pastime however was studying Brillant Mors, his family heirloom, until he fell asleep.

It was a weapon that was as beautiful as it was ancient. No one knew how long it had been in the family, or who had forged it, but whoever had created it had been a master blacksmith who had poured their heart and soul into the weapon. The entire halberd, haft, hammer head, axe blade, and spear head, was forged from a single piece of the highest quality dust treated steel, making it nigh indestructible. A long leather strip was wound around the haft of the weapon, ensuring a solid grip no matter where you held the weapon. Where the spear head, hammer head, and axe blade met the image of an eagle's head was engraved into the weapon. The eagle's beak was open in a shriek of rage, as though it were battling some unseen enemy. The hammer head was heavy enough to crack open the skull of a Boarbatusk if swung with enough force. The axe blade was a straight blade that tore through flesh and bit into bone with ease. The spearhead was a foot long leaf shape, perfect for stabbing through gaps and weaknesses in armor. Jaune smiled as he felt sleep descend on him. It always relaxed him to inspect his weapon. When he had been a little boy Jaune's grandfather had told hims stories of great warriors of the Arc line who had used Brillant Mors to battle the Grimm to put him to sleep. This weapon had been in his family since before the written history of the four kingdoms. It was as much a part of the Arc family as Jaune was himself. He closed his eyes as sleep finally claimed him.

* * *

"Jaune? Jaune wake up. we're here"

Jaune's eyes fluttered open as he sat up in his seat. The airship had stopped moving and was now hovering just above the ground. The four of them jumped off the ship and found that they were outside of a small village with wooden walls and a small gate. In front of that gate stood a man. He wore full body plate armor that was masterfully attached to an underlying layer of chainmail. A full helm hid his face from view. A halberd was gripped in one hand and balanced on his shoulder. He walked towards JNPR until he stood in front of them. He was a tall man, almost a foot taller than Jaune, who was the tallest member of JNPR.

The man didn't even look at the other member's of JNPR. His helmet was aimed directly at Jaune. "Jaune Arc?"

"Y-yes. We came to kill the Beowulves threatening your villages live stock."

"There are no Beowulves. That was a story I concocted to bring you out here."

Jaune could feel his teammates closing around him protectively, their hands on their weapons.

"Then you must be Nathaniel," said Pyrrha politely, but with an edge of steel in her voice "I'm Pyrrha Nikos. Four time Mistral Tournament champion, and Jaune's _partner_."

Nathaniel's gaze never turned from Jaune. "I hope that's not supposed to impress me girly. I know who you are. I know who you _all_ are." He pointed at Jaune with a gauntleted fist. "He is the only one who matters."

Jaune pushed himself free of his friends as they closed tighter around him and shrugged off Pyrrha's arm as she tried to pull him back in. "Who are you? How do you know who I am? Why did you request me specifically?"

The man raised his free hand to his head and removed his helmet, holding it in the crook of his arm. His head was crowned by short brown hair streaked with silver. A strong jaw was covered by a thick beard. His intense eyes were the same color as his hair.

"My name is Nathaniel, descendant of Knight-Captain Marusus and the last living Knight of the Order of Light. Jaune Arc, scion of House Arc and descendant of Knight-Lord Cailan Arc, we have much to talk about."


	3. Chapter 3

**HELLOOOOOO! I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter of Jaune Arc Gryphon Knight. As those of you who read my other story "The Vagabond" know I'm starting college soon, so updates may slow down depending on the workload I have to deal with. However I will not stop writing either of these stories. As long as there are people who are willing to read it I will continue to write it. Before we jump into this new chapter I have just one thing to address.**

 **Lazylegionspark asked if the Maidens would play a part in this story. To that I say yes. I will be tying them into the mythos I'm creating around the Lady and the Gryphon Knights. Like I said I want to keep as close to the original story told in the first three volumes of RWBY as possible, so the Maidens still play an important part in this story.**

 **With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

Team Juniper followed Nathaniel as he walked back towards the village as Jaune pelted him with questions.

"Cailan Arc? Who's Cailan Arc? What's the Order of Light, and what does it have to do with-"

Nathaniel interrupted Jaune's questions with a wave of his hand. "I will explain everything soon, but not until you have seen the sanctuary."

"The sanctuary?"

Nathaniel had replaced his helmet on his head so Jaune couldn't see his face, but the blonde got the feeling that the man was smiling. "You'll see."

When they reached the gate Nathaniel pushed it open and stepped into the village, the huntsmen in training right behind him. Immediately they noticed something very unusual about the village.

"Where is everyone?" asked a perplexed Nora.

"No one lives here but me," replied Nathaniel, "the village was built to disguise the sanctuary from those who would wish to find it."

"How long have you lived here?" asked Ren.

"Virtually my entire life. Like all of my ancestors stretching all the way back to Knight-Captain Marusus we have lived here in solitude until the scion of house Arc came to claim their birthright."

"My birthright?" asked Jaune, "why me? Why not any of my ancestors? Your ancestors could have brought any of them here at any time."

"It had to be you," Nathaniel responded simply, "your ancestor Cailan was granted a vision of the future, and in it you were the one who claimed the birthright."

Jaune's mouth opened, then closed. He looked at Pyrrha and twirled his finger around his ear, silently questioning Nathaniel's sanity. Pyrrha simply shrugged back, looking similarly perplexed.

"I know how that must sound to you," said Nathaniel, "but it will become more clear when you've entered the sanctuary."

"You still haven't explained this 'sanctuary' to us. What is it exactly?" asked Pyrrha, who Jaune noticed was all but pressed against him in an attempt to put herself between Nathaniel and Jaune in case the man's sanity was as questionable as they thought.

"You will see it soon enough. The entrance is just ahead."

Nora bounced ahead of them and turned to face them, skipping backwards as the other four walked normally. "So I have a question. You said you've been here pretty much all of your life, right? Like all your ancestors?"

"That's what I said."

"If that's the case, then have you and your ancestors never... you know... done it?"

Nathaniel's head cocked to one side. "Done what exactly?"

"You know, the nasty? The bedroom tango? The midnight premiere at the vag theater?"

"NORA!" shouted an indignant Ren. "Really?!"

"Well sorry," pouted Nora, "but if he and his ancestors have lived here alone all their lives then I just don't see how he could have been, y'know, _born._ Even I know you need at least two people for that."

Jaune could almost here Nathaniel's eyes rolling in his helmet. "When it became evident to each of my ancestors that Jaune would not be born in their lifetimes they would set out to find a woman to sire a son with. When the son was born they would take him back with them to raise them here in solitude and train them as a knight of the Order. I was on the verge of doing the same myself when I caught wind of Jaune's enrollment into Beacon."

"What about the mother, or if the child is a girl?" asked Pyrrha.

Nathaniel was silent for a moment. "The mother was left behind. If the child is a girl then my ancestors would simply find another woman in another village to sire a son with. They would continue this process until a son was born, then return here with the child."

"That's horrible!" said Jaune angrily, "they would just leave them? Why couldn't they take the mother with them, or train the girl to be a 'knight' or whatever? Girls are just as good at fighting as guys." He glanced at Pyrrha. "In some cases they're better."

"I agree that it was a dishonorable practice," said Nathaniel, who still walked straight ahead without looking at them. "But it _was_ necessary. The fewer people who knew about this place the better. Secrecy was and is the sanctuary's best defense. As for why they wouldn't take the daughters with them, they couldn't. Holy writ mandated that all knights of the Order must be men. It's not because women can't fight. In the order's short history there are a number of accounts of knights fighting alongside very capable female warriors."

"You keep mentioning an 'Order' of some sort," said Ren. "I assume you're referring to a knightly order judging by your appearance, but what order exactly are you referring to?"

Nathaniel stopped walking. At first Jaune thought they had gone too far with their questioning, but then Nathaniel spoke. "We're here."

In front of them was... nothing.

It was just the open center of the town square, a flat square area made of stone. There was nothing here that suggested it was the hidden entrance to some sanctuary, or anything else. Until Jaune realized that there was something in the center of the square. A flat metal disk no more than two feet wide with a hole in it's center. "The three of you will wait here," ordered Nathaniel, "Jaune, you must come with me."

"Why can't my friends come too?" asked Jaune suspiciously, "I trust them."

"The sanctuary is for members of the Order and you only. Your friends are neither members of the Order, nor are they you. After you've seen what's down there and I've answered your questions then you may tell them whatever you wish about what you saw. But only _you_ may see it."

Jaune gulpled. The last thing he wanted to do was go with this strange man anywhere alone, but he couldn't deny that he was curious. The idea that whatever was in this sanctuary was waiting for him, the prospect of him being something more than the weak link on his team? It excited him as much as it scared him. But now he had to make a choice. Did he agree and go alone, or did he refuse to go unless his friends came with him? Nathaniel had said he could tell them what he saw and learned, so he clearly didn't have a problem with them knowing what was down there, just with them actually going down there. Jaune seriously doubted they could force him to take all of them down there. Something about the man told him that he could take them all apart with ease if it came to a fight.

But the deciding factor was how he felt about the whole situation. He had every reason to be wary of this man and refuse to go anywhere with him alone, but he didn't feel that surge of fear he normally did when he was about to do something incredibly reckless. Something about this felt... right.

"Fine," said Jaune, "I'll go alone."

Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm in a grip like a vice and dragged him away until they were out of earshot of Nathaniel, Ren and Nora following close behind. "Jaune, you don't have to go with him alone," she whispered frantically, "we don't know this man. For all we know he could be a complete madman! How do we know anything of what he's saying is true?"

Jaune placed his hand over the one gripping his arm. "Ozpin said he thought we should go on this mission because he felt it was right. I do too. I think he's been telling us the truth about this whole situation. I mean why bother making up a lie as weird as his story? Wouldn't it have been more believable for him to say that more Grimm showed up and killed the other villagers if this was all a lie to draw me out here?"

"That still doesn't mean you should go alone with him." Pyrrha turned to Ren and Nora for back up. "Guys, tell him that going alone is a bad idea," she pleaded.

"It does seem ill advised," said Ren, "while the ridiculous nature of his story actually lends credence to its authenticity, or to the possibility of him being insane, we still know next to nothing about him besides the fact that seems to have lived alone for most of his life, which would probably result in a less than healthy mental state. I believe we should go together." The three of them turned to Nora, who had been uncharacteristically quiet.

She shrugged. "I think he should go alone."

Their mouths dropped.

"Y-You can't be _serious_ Nora," sputtered Pyrrha.

"Look, Jauney's a big boy, and our leader. He may not be the best fighter, but he's got a good head on his shoulders. You can't hold his hand and protect him Pyrrha. He's going to take risks that you're not going to like because he's the leader, and at the end of the day what he says goes. Besides if anything does go wrong we have our scrolls. Jaune can call us for help, and we can call the school and have full fledged huntsmen here in a jiffy." She hefted her hammer. "That being said, if that Nathan guy tries anything nasty I'm going to break more than just his legs."

Jaune smiled at his bubbly teammate while Pyrrha and even the usually composed Ren stared open mouthed at her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Nora," he gently pried his arm free of Pyrrha's grip, which had been steadily growing tighter. "I'll tell you guys everything when I get back, okay? I promise."

He jogged over to Nathaniel, who nodded at him. "Your friends done questioning my mental health then?"

Jaune winced, "you heard that?"

"I did, but I don't blame them. I'll admit that this whole scenario must seem very strange to all of you. But enough of that. Are you ready to see the sanctuary?" Jaune nodded. "I am too. Your halberd, Brillant Mors, is the key to the entrance. I've never seen the inside myself."

The two of them walked over to the metal disk. "Insert the end of Brillant Mors into the hole and twist it to the right once, then the left, then pull it out" instructed Nathaniel, "the entrance should open then."

Jaune raised his halberd and inserted the butt of his weapon into the hole. He twisted it to the right, then the left, and heard some unseen mechanism click as he withdrew Brillant Mors. Suddenly the ground they were standing on began to rumble and a large circular portion of the town square, at least twenty feet wide, slowly began to turn in place and descend. Jaune looked up at his friends as the ground he was standing slowly began to sink. He smiled and waved to them, the nervousness he felt reflected on their faces. All except for Nora, who smiled and waved back happily. "Bring me some pancakes when you come back!"

Jaune laughed, "If I find any I promise you'll be the first to have a bite!"

The platform descended until Jaune couldn't see his friends, and he turned to Nathaniel. "So you have no idea what's down here?"

"Oh I know what's down here. I've just never seen it."

"Can you tell me what this birthright is then?"

Nathaniel removed his helmet and hooked it to his belt. He smiled at Jaune, and he realized that the man was just as excited about this as Jaune was nervous about it. "Trust me. It's better if it remains a surprise. I doubt you'd believe me if I told you."

"The day I've been having I just might," grumbled Jaune as he ran his fingers down the straight edge of Brillant Mors's axe blade. He glanced over at Nathaniel, who was staring at his halberd with barely disguised awe. "Would you ah... like to hold my halberd?" asked Jaune awkwardly.

Nathaniel blinked and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was staring, but... yes I would. If that's alright with you."

Jaune shrugged, "sure, why not?" He held the weapon out to Nathaniel, who slung his own halberd across his back by its leather strap. Jaune made a mental note to get one for his own halberd. It was tiring having to constantly carry it in his hands whenever he had it with him. The man gingerly took the weapon from Jaune and held it reverently.

"Brillant Mors," he whispered, "the weapon of Cailan Arc, Knight-Lord of the Order. Champion of the Lady." He looked at Jaune with unshed tears glistening in his eyes. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to simply hold this legendary weapon in my hands." He held the weapon out to Jaune, who took it back, "thank you for such an honor Jaune."

"Uh... no problem," said the blonde awkwardly. "You seem to know a lot about my weapon. This Cailan Arc, was he the one who forged it?"

"No. The weapon was forged by someone else. _Some_ _thing_ else. It was granted to him on the condition that he serve the weapon's forger."

Jaune frowned in confusion. "Something else? So not a person?"

Nathaniel locked eyes with Jaune. The look in the older man's eyes was completely serious, inciting Jaune to pay complete attention to the man. "Tell me Jaune, what do you know of gods?"

Jaune frowned in confusion, his brow scrunching up. "Not much. Just the basic stuff I guess. Why?"

"Do you believe that there is such a thing as a god?"

"Like... An all seeing, all knowing, all powerful god?"

"To an extent," replied Nathaniel with a shrug. "She is powerful, _very_ powerful, but not omnipotent. Nor is she all knowing or all seeing. That is why the Order was created."

"You keep mentioning this order you're a part of. What is it exactly? Are you knights like Ren said?"

"Hmmm..." Nathaniel rubbed his chin in thought. "Yes, though I think it may be more accurate to say that we're warrior monks. We worship the goddess Vaya through our actions. The Order, called the Order of Light, is dedicated to battling the Grimm and helping the less fortunate. Unlike other religions we do not offer up prayers to our goddess. Vaya is a goddess of action, not of words. She does not want her warriors to sit around offering up benedictions in a chapel. She wants them, us, to go out into the world and help the less fortunate and battle evil. It is for that purpose that the Order of Light was created, and the Gryphon Knights formed, with your ancestor Cailan at their head."

"Gryphon Knights?"

Nathaniel grinned at him. "You'll see."

The turning platform reached the bottom. The room they had stopped in was a simple circle of stone with a steel door. Nathaniel walked to the door and pushed it open, metal hinges shrieking as it opened. The knight stepped into the room beyond, Jaune right behind him. What he saw on the other side of the door took his breath away.

Beyond the door was a massive hallway. It's roof was a hundred feet in the air and supported by marble pillars decorated with images of men wearing plate armor mounted on strange beasts battling Grimm. Their mounts seemed to be a blend of some lion and eagle. He walked over to one of the pillars to stare at the carving. "Are those the Gryphon Knights?"

"They are," responded Nathaniel, "and those creatures they're riding are the gryphons. Gryphons are mighty beasts of war. Unlike horses they choose their own riders, and are the most vicious and loyal creatures you will ever have the honor of meeting."

"So you're a Gryhpon Knight then?"

"I am, though I've never ridden a gryphon."

Jaune frowned. "Are they extinct?"

Nathaniel walked past him without responding to the end of the hall. Jaune followed after him quickly and saw at the end of the hall was a pair of massive stone double doors. Jaune had no idea how they were possibly going to open them without a small army when Nathaniel gripped a lever set into the wall and pulled it down. The stone doors rumbled as unseen mechanisms forced them open, permitting access to Jaune and Nathaniel.

The two of them walked in side by side. Nathaniel pointed at Something laying in the center of the room. "You asked earlier if the gryphons were extinct? There is the last and mightiest of them: Talon, your ancestor's gryphon."

Jaune's eyes widened in shock and awe as he stared at the slumbering creature. It was beautiful the way any dangerous animal was beautiful. Its whole body was covered in feathers. It's powerful legs ended in paws with claws as long as daggers. It's head was that of an eagle with a fearsome looking beak that probably wouldn't have a problem tearing through any Grimm that got too close. Two powerful wings longer than Jaune was tall were folded against its body, gently moving up and down as the creature breathed peacefully in its slumber.

Nathaniel's hand on his shoulder shocked Jaune out of his trance. Without realizing it he had walked halfway across the room, his arm outstretched to touch the slumbering gryphon. Jaune looked up at the man. "You said it was my ancestor's gryhpon? How old is it then?"

"Ten thousand years old," said the knight as if that was the most normal thing in the world. "Though it's been here for most of that, sleeping."

"It's been sleeping for ten thousand years?" Jaune whispered, "why? How?"

Nathaniel sighed and removed his hand from Jaune's shoulder. "Ten thousand years ago the Order of Light was almost completely eradicated by the Grimm. The order had not existed for long, only a few decades, but it had been the greatest threat to the Grimm yet. Your ancestor Cailan Arc, was the first of the order. He was a humble man, a blacksmith's apprentice, who had lived in a small peaceful village. The Grimm came however, and laid waist to the village. Cailan fought with all his might with only a smithing hammer to defend his friends and family, but it was in vain. The Grimm slaughtered everyone, save for him. He fought through the night, the dawn of the next day, then the night of that day too. On the dawn of the day after the battle he knelt alone in the rubble of what had once been his home and despaired, lifting his hammer to end his own life. That was when Vaya came to him. She took the hammer from his hands and placed it aside, holding him against her as he grieved for his family. When his tears dried he asked her who she was. She told him that she was a foe to the Grimm, and could give him the weapons he would need to take the war to the creatures of darkness if he would but serve her. He was doubtful at first, as she had come to him in the guise of a human woman, but his doubts receded when with a wave of her hand she created a suit of armor and a halberd for him, the very same halberd you carry now. When he saw this display of power he agreed to serve her, and she took him to a far away mountain where he would spend the next five years training to be a warrior and protector. When his training was complete she sent him out into the world on horseback to battle the Grimm and recruit others to the cause. For ten years he did so successfully. As his name and fame grew others flocked to his banner and his teachings, and Cailan formed the Order of Light, a warrior order dedicated to battling the Grimm and helping the people in any way possible."

"However where there is light there is also darkness, and Vaya was not the only power in the world. Where Vaya was the goddess of light and life, there was also a goddess of darkness and death: Salem, mother of the Grimm. Salem saw these warriors of light battling her Grimm to a standstill and was unhappy. She created two new forms of Grimm to combat the knights of the Order with. These Grimm were the Nevermores and Pegasi, avian Grimm that could keep to the skies and be safe from the weapons of the knights below. The knights had no way of defeating these Grimm, as few of them were trained in the use of bows, until Vaya came up with a solution. She summoned Cailan back to where she had trained him, and there she granted him two more gifts. The first was the knowledge of how to project the light of Vaya from his weapons. It was a searing light, the presence of which was enough to burn the Grimm as though it were a roaring fire. The second gift was a new creature, the likes of which had never been seen on Remnant before: the gryphon. A beast that was half lion and half eagle, it was fearless and savage when fighting the Grimm. The first gryphon created was the one you see sleeping before you. Vaya gifted him to Cailan, who named him Talon. The goddess ordered Cailan to return to his men upon Talon and to bring them to the mountain, where she would gift them all with a gryphon and the ability to imbue their weapons with her light. Cailan did as he was instructed, and all of the Order were granted these gifts. However as I've said before Vaya is not omnipotent. Her power has its limits. The act of creating the gryphons exhausted her, and she withdrew from the world, entrusting the safety of Remnant to the newly dubbed Gryphon Knights."

"For decades the Gryhpon Knights battled the Grimm. The top of the mountain that Cailan had trained on was sculpted into the Order's fortress with smaller fortresses and outposts dotting Remnant. The Knight-Lord eventually found love and sired a family, but sent them into hiding in case Salem attempted to harm them. Salem's hoards were uncountable, but the courage of Order's warriors was indomitable, and slowly but surely her monstrosities were driven back. In desperation the Grimm mother created new and menacing forms of Grimm in an attempt to find something that could turn the tide in her favor. Eventually she found it: the dragon. A fire breathing creature of pure evil that could tear its way through scores of Gryhpon Knights before it fell to its wounds. With the dragons at her command she drove the Gryphon Knights back, killing thousands of them in each battle, though her own forces were not without losses. Many of the dragons fell too, along with an uncountable number of lesser Grimm, but it was not enough to stop the black tide."

"It seemed to Cailan that all hope was gone. His warriors were outmatched by the dragons and so he determined to gather the last of the order's fighters for a final push in an attempt to slay Salem, even if it meant their deaths. However before he could begin to gather his men he was granted a vision by Vaya. In it he was shown that it was not his place to kill Salem, merely to lay the foundations for the one who would, and to remind the Grimm mother that while Vaya herself might be absent from the world, her power was not. Cailan did as she asked, and had this underground sanctuary built to house his gryphon, who would be put into a state of suspended animation until the one it was waiting for came to woke it. While it was being built Cailan called back his Gryphon Knights from around Remnant to their main fortress and ordered that all other fortresses and outposts be sealed closed to protect what was kept within them. Gathered together, the Gryphon Knights awaited Salem's arrival. When she did show, Cailan sent the first man who joined him, my ancestor Marusus, to the sanctuary with Talon. When they arrived Talon laid down where you see him now and Vaya put him into the great sleep. Marusus, sealed the sanctuary, and for ten thousand years the men of my family awaited your arrival into the world. When you joined Beacon I was granted a dream by Vaya, showing you killing an Ursa Major all on your own. An impressive feat for one so young and untrained, but I knew you were the one I had been waiting for, that my ancestors had been waiting for, that Talon has been waiting for."

"The Lady has chosen you as her new champion Jaune. She has chosen you to slay Salem and free the world from her darkness."

Jaune's head spun and he felt like he was about to throw up again. This was all too much. He was supposed to kill a goddess? Someone so powerful that they had created the _Grimm_? He couldn't do that. He was... He was clumsy, klutzy, foolish Jaune Arc who couldn't kill and Ursa without help, let alone an immortal being of darkness.

He shook his head as he backed away from Nathaniel and the sleeping gryphon. Now it didn't seem so beautiful. Now it seemed like his death, which probably wasn't too far from the truth. It would probably mistake him for a snack and take his head off the second it woke up. "I... I can't" whispered Jaune, "I just... I can't do that. You got the wrong guy."

"It _is_ you Jaune," insisted Nathaniel as he stepped towards Jaune as he slowly backed away. "I can't imagine how confusing and terrifying this must be for you, but it _is_ you who I saw in my dream, who Vaya has chosen."

Jaune tripped over his own feet as he backed away, sprawling on the floor. He pushed himself to his feet and continued to back away until his back hit the wall. Nathaniel stopped advancing towards Jaune and stood ten feet away from the blonde, his hands held out in a placating manner. "I-i-it's not me," said Jaune frantically, "It can't be! I-I mean just look at me! I'm scrawny, I barely know how to fight, I can barely take on a Beowulf alone, and lets be honest here, the most impressive thing about me is my weapon, which according to you was made by a goddess, which I would honestly be doubting a lot more if it weren't for the fact that there is a sleeping g _ryphon_ in front of me."

"Jaune," said Nathaniel gently, " it _is_ you. You are without a doubt the one I saw in my dream. Are you the most confident or capable fighter? Not at all. From what I can tell you have a _very_ long way to go before you're ready, but that doesn't mean you won't ever be ready. I will help you Jaune. I will teach you how to be a knight of the Order like my father did for me, and someday when you are ready you will claim the title of Knight-Lord, and Salem and her Grimm will remember what it's like to fear the wrath of the light, but only if _you_ accept your birthright."

Jaune shook his head vigorously, feeling sicker than ever. Whoever this Vaya was she had clearly made a mistake in choosing him as her champion. Why not someone else? Why not someone actually capable, like Pyrrha, who was a literal champion already? Four times over too! "Y-you said it yourself," insisted Jaune, "this Vaya you keep talking about isn't all powerful or all knowing. She could have made a mistake, she probably _did_ make a mistake in picking me."

Nathaniel's eyes hardened, and he crossed his arms over his chest. Clearly he was done playing nice with Jaune. "So what if she did?" he snarled, "maybe Vaya did make a mistake, hell if I know!" He closed the distance between himself and Jaune with a few long strides. The blonde tried to slip to the side and out the door, but before he had moved and inch Nathaniel's gauntleted fist slammed into the stone next to Jaune's head, cracking it like an egg shell. Jaune didn't need much more motivation to stay completely still as Nathaniel glowered at him. "But I _do_ know one thing. We are running out of time. In the last battle between the Order and Salem Cailan and his knights managed to wound Salem, and severely at that. I know this because you and I are currently alive and talking, and the world isn't swallowed in shadow. However she was not killed, and she's gathering power. As a knight of the Order I can feel the flow of power through the world, and what I feel isn't good. Dark powers are gaining strength every day, slowly eclipsing the few sources of the light's power left in the world. Salem's strength is returning, and someday she will be strong enough to unleash her power upon the world, and when she does? Without the gryphon knights to oppose her Salem will swallow the world. The four kingdoms' martial strength will not be enough to stop her, at best they'll be a nuisance. The Huntsmen will fare little better. The sheer number of Grimm unleashed upon the world will overwhelm them, and the few who survive will be torn apart by Salem herself. Our world will be cast into darkness, and Vaya will be unable to stop it without her greatest warriors."

He pulled his fist away from the wall and stepped away from Jaune, turning his back on the boy and clasping his hands behind his back. His armored shoulders rose and fell with heavy breaths as Jaune stepped away from the wall. "Aren't there others?" he whispered, "there's no way your goddess would have just stopped at the gryphon knights if she was so intent on protecting Remnant, right?"

"You're right," agreed Nathaniel, his back still to Jaune as he gazed at Talon, "after the order fell there were others. Some of my ancestors came into contact with women called the Maidens on occasion as they traveled to look for a suitable woman to sire a son with. One even sired a son with a Maiden. These women are strong enough to have power over the elements themselves. However there's only four of them, their power is not what it once was, and Salem would have sent her agents after them in an attempt to either kill them or corrupt them to her service. I have reason to believe there may have been other groups throughout time who were granted various gifts by the Lady to combat the Grimm with, but these groups have either died out or been corrupted to the Grimm mother's service. The Order of Light was her first and greatest creation, and as such remains Remnant's only hope for salvation."

The knight sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jaune. I cannot force you to accept this burden. I know its weight is monumental, and that the mere thought of it must terrify you. I won't blame you in the least if you refuse. If you choose not to take on this burden then simply walk back to the entrance to the sanctuary and return to the surface and your friends. I will go with you. All I ask in return is that you leave Brillant Mors with me, as I will need it to get back into the sanctuary. I will give you my halberd in return. She's not as ancient as Brillant Mors, but I've used her to slay many Grimm who have wondered too close to the village, and I can say from experience that she's a reliable weapon and will not let you down. I will try to find a way to awaken Talon on my own and do my best to reform the Gryphon knights to combat Salem when she returns to full strength."

He turned around and faced Jaune. The anger was gone, replaced by resignation and something Jaune knew all too well: fear.

"But if you think for even a moment that you might be up to this task, to answer the call of the Lady, then all you need do is place your hand on Talon. He should awaken at your touch and he will let you mount him. You will have your ancestor's Gryphon, his weapon, and I will teach you the ways of a Gryhpon Knight. And when the time comes and Salem comes to swallow the world in darkness, we may very well be ready."

Jaune looked at the slumbering beast, then at the doorway. It would be so easy. All he had to do was walk away, to run away.

He was good at that.

Instead he looked at Nathaniel. "How long?"

The knight frowned, "How long what?"

"How long would be until this Salem is strong enough to endanger the world?"

Nathaniel's frown deepened as he thought. "At the very least? Ten years, unless something changes to speed or slow her recovery. However that is the _very_ least, and it's more likely that it would take twenty years. Regardless it will certainly be within our lifetime."

Twenty years...

Twenty years to prepare for an invasion of Grimm the likes of which the world hadn't seen in over ten thousand years, with the goddess of darkness herself at its head. Twenty years to reform an ancient order of knights that was so old it dated to before the written history of Remnant, and thus was essentially unknown to the rest of the world. Unless it took even less time for Salem to heal, which considering Jaune's luck was probably more likely than Nathaniel thought.

Could he do it?

Absolutely not. Jaune was many things, but he wasn't arrogant. He wasn't strong enough, or talented enough, or smart enough, or _brave_ enough to do it. He knew himself well enough to know his limits.

 _But could you become all those? True you are not ready now, but Nathaniel would train you, make you more than you are. You could become more than Beacon's fool. You_ would _become more. It is in your blood to be a hero, it is your duty to Remnant and to those you love to accept the burden so that they do not have to._

The voice that whispered in his head did not seem to be his own, but it made just as much sense as his arguments for walking away. He was not ready, but could he be? Was it possible to be ready for something so monumental? He didn't think so, but at the same time Salem was coming one way or another. Everything Nathaniel had told him went against everything he thought he knew, but Jaune believed him. The evidence was all around him, was clutched in his hands in a white knuckle grip. He looked at the blade of Brillant Mors, his family's most prized possession, which according to Nathaniel had been made by a goddess. He remembered something his grandfather had told him when he was a little boy in bed, listening with wide eyed innocence to the stories his grandad had told him of great Arc heroes who had accomplished magnificent feats of courage and bravery that seemed almost impossible for a human being to accomplish. No one named Cailan had ever come up in those stories. Not surprising considering how long ago the Order of Light had existed. The order would have faded out of all memory long before his grandad's grandad had been born.

"All Arc men die heroes," his grandfather had said in an uncharacteristically somber moment. "That might sound like a blessing, but its really a curse my boy. We don't get to settle down and have big happy families like your dad does, because he wasn't born an Arc. Your mother will be fine too as she's a woman and it doesn't seem to affect them, but there's not a single man born into the Arc family who hasn't died in battle against the Grimm. Someday your old Grandad's going to go the way of a hero, and probably sooner rather than later, but don't cry for me my boy, because its our duty to the world to die heroes. My own father once told me that the fate of the world is tied to the fate of the Arc men. If one of us died a coward, then the world would die with him." He had smiled at Jaune then, who was clinging to every word his grandad was saying. "Probably just silly old superstition to make our fate a bit easier to swallow, but it's fun to think that our actions determine the fate of the world, makes us feel a bit important."

It was the last time Jaune had seen his grandfather. A few days after that night the old man had gone on a mission with twenty other Huntsmen to relieve a town besieged by Grimm. He had died at that battle while singlehandedly holding a breach that the Grimm had managed to break open in the wall. The Grimm had overwhelmed him, but he had gone down fighting and held the breach for hours on his own. by the time reinforcements had arrived he had died, but the village and everyone in it had been saved by his sacrifice. There had been no body. The only thing that had been returned to the Arc family was Brillant Mors. Just like he had asked of him, Jaune hadn't cried when he'd heard his grandad had died. His parents had been worried about him, but when they had questioned him about it he'd simply said, "grandad said all Arc men die heroes, that its our curse because we don't get to have big families like you do daddy, but that its our duty to the world to die heroes, so that's what I'll do when I'm older. I'll die a hero like grandad did."

God, how long ago had that been? Ten years ago? What would his seven year old self think of him now? Here he was with an opportunity to become a world saving hero, and he wanted nothing more than to run back to his friends and Beacon and pretend this had never happened, to live in blissful denial until Salem rose and swallowed the world in darkness.

 _"My own father once told me that the fate of the world is tied to the fate of the Arc men. If one of us died a coward, then the world would die with him."_

Jaune laughed bitterly. _Turns out your dad was right grandad. If I leave here then I'll have become a coward, and the world will die with me._

He looked up from his weapon and met Nathaniel's eyes. He was still scared, terrified in fact, of the task before him, but he was determined too. He would not let the world die.

Not without dying to protect it.

* * *

To say that Pyrrha was worried would have been a gross understatement of the highest magnitude. She was practically pulling her hair out with concern that grew with every second they were down there. She contemplated jumping down the hole they had left in the earth. Surely her aura would protect her from the impact of landing, or perhaps she could somehow utilize her semblance to slow her descent? Ren seemed just as worried. Though he was much better at hiding it she noticed how he would occasionally check to ensure Stormflower was were he could grab them in a heartbeat. Nora however seemed perfectly okay with the fact that Jaune was down a hole in the earth with some strange man who _claimed_ he knew Jaune. Pyrrha winced as she Nora's words went through her head again.

 _"You can't hold his hand and protect him Pyrrha. He's going to take risks that you're not going to like because he's the leader, and at the end of the day what he says goes."_

Pyrrha knew he was their leader, and she had no desire to take that position from him, but surely she couldn't be faulted for trying to protect him? He just wasn't a capable fighter as the rest of them, and she wasn't _holding his hand_ as Nora had put it. She was simply doing her best to guide him until he was ready to take care of things on his own.

Even Pyrrha had to admit that sounded like holding his hand.

But what of it? She cared for the blonde boy, she cared deeply for him, but he could be a bit... oblivious. He had ignored the fact that this Nathaniel man could be and probably _was_ very dangerous! Honestly the fact that _Nora_ of all people had thought it a good idea should have told Jaune that going alone was in fact a very, _very,_ bad idea. Pyrrha loved the girl like a sister, but she was not the brains of the team.

Pyrrha shook her head and stamped her foot. Her mind was made up. She was going down that hole after Jaune. The others could stay up here or join her, but she was going one way or the other. She turned to face her two teammates and opened her mouth. "I'm-"

Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by a _massive_ gust of wind that nearly blew her off her feet as something flew out of he hole in the ground. She whirled around and stared at the thing hovering several hundred feet in the sky, its strong wings keeping it aloft and generating gusts of winds that she could feel from the ground. She didn't know _what_ it was, but it was big, looked like it was part eagle and part big cat (maybe a puma?) and that sitting on its back was Jaune, who was waving like mad from his perch on its back. The _thing_ swooped down and landed on the ground hard enough to make the earth shudder. The creature was taller than her by at least a foot, and its feathery body was composed of solid muscle. The creature tossed its head to the sky and shrieked like an eagle, only about a hundred times louder, as it flapped its wings, creating gusts of wind strong enough to knock Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora off their feet.

Grinning like a mad man, Jaune slid off its back and patted the beast's flank as it calmed down. At that moment the platform that had sunk into the earth raised back into position with Nathaniel standing on top of it. His helmet was off, and he was also grinning like a mad man as he stared at the part eagle, part cat, _thing_ with clear pride and awe. Jaune trotted over to his teammates and helped them to his feet. He pointed at the creature.

"Guys, meet Talon. He's my gryphon!"

* * *

 **Well this chapter was a doozy for everyone involved wasn't it? Jaune learned that he was basically Remnants last and greatest hope, Pyrrha got told off by _Nora_ of all people, Ren's about to discover his fear of big birds (kidding, or am I?) and Nora suffered the worst of all: she didn't get her pancakes!**

 **Joking aside I hope I did a good job explaining the history of the Order, who Vaya is, and everything related to that. I finished this chapter rather late at night but I went back and edited it when I woke up so I was bright eyed and bushy tailed (insert furry joke here). As always please favorite and follow this story if you have not yet done that. if you have questions, suggestions for the story, or just want to tell me what you think of it then feel free to leave a comment. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfics then please suggest this story to them if you think they'd like it. I love you all.**

 **BBBBBYYYYYYEEEEEEEE!**


	4. Chapter 4

Ruby Rose was very excited. This in and of itself was not unusual. Ruby got very excited over most things, barring school work. However the reason she was excited was a very special reason: team JNPR was returning from their first ever mission!

The members of JNPR hadn't had time to tell them about the mission before they had left, but Jaune had messaged her after the Bullhead had left and let her know that they were going on a mission given to them by Ozpin himself to eliminate a pack of Beowulves. Jaune had also told Ruby to "give Weiss his love" but Ruby had chosen not to do that both for Jaune's sake and her own. It also may have been for more... _selfish_ reasons. She wouldn't deny that she had a small crush on the blonde boy, but wasn't that to be expected? He had been the first friend she had made at Beacon, and the first boyfriend- guy friend, she meant guy friend, she had made who wasn't a member of her family. On top of that the only other boy she knew well enough to consider a friend was Ren, who wasn't exactly her type. Additionally it was a not-so-secret secret that a certain ginger haired girl had a massive crush on him, even if the ninja himself didn't realize it.

Of course, Ren wasn't the only oblivious one. Jaune was equally unaware of Pyrrha and Ruby's affections for him, though Ruby was pretty sure Pyrrha was also unaware of Ruby's feelings for the blonde klutz. However Ruby wasn't about to try and take Jaune away from the champion. Her feelings for Jaune were far stronger than Ruby's, and Pyrrha _was_ his partner. Shoot, if Pyrrha asked for her help in winning him over Ruby would have gladly given it.

"Yo? Remnant to Rubes. Come in Rubes." A hand was waved in front of her fact snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw her sister standing next to her. "How much longer do we have to wait out here? The humidity isn't doing anything good for my hair." The four girls of RWBY were waiting at the landing pads for JNPR for return. It was a fairly hot day, even with a comfortable breeze blowing, but Ruby wasn't about to go inside until their sister team had arrived, and neither were her teammates.

Ruby huffed and crossed her arms. "We'll wait as long as we need to Yang. They're our friends after all. They would wait for us too. Besides in her last message Pyrrha told me they were about half an hour away, and that was twenty minutes ago. They'll be here soon."

Yang sighed and ran her hands through her hair in a vain attempt to flatten it out. "I know, but I'm _sooo_ tired of waiting it's not even funny. Pyrrha said they were being some guests back with them, and I wanna see who they are!" Yang leaned in close to her little sister and put an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe it's some hunky guys for us to date." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Eeeewww Yang!" she pushed her sister off, "I don't want "hunky guys. They're all muscle bound and sweaty and they're so cool when they're not." An image of Cardin Winchester appeared in her head. Physically Cardin was the very definition of "hunky" as her sister put it, but if all "hunky" guys had attitudes like his then she'd rather stick to clumsy and scrawny guys any day.

Yang laughed and put her arm around Ruby again, pulling her into a crushing bear hug. "Relax sis, I was just messin with ya. I know your type is tall, blonde, and scraggly."

Ruby's face turned so red her cloak despaired. "I-it is not!" She freed herself from her sister's grasp and darted out of her reach, still blushing furiously. If she confessed to liking Jaune then it would mean no end of teasing from her older sister, _especially_ in front of the blonde boy. "Besides even if I did like Jaune he likes Weiss, and Pyrrha likes him."

Yang's eyebrow twitched upwards in amusement. "I never said it was Jaune."

Ruby sputtered as her face somehow grew even redder. Weiss, who had been listening in on their conversation, cut them both off with an explosive sigh. "If you or Pyrrha want the dunce you can have him, though I can't see what either of you like in the boy."

"I do not like Jaune!" shouted Ruby as she stomped her foot. Yang opened her mouth to retort when someone cut her off.

"Girls, could you please keep it down? I could hear you even before I left the school, and all of the shouting is making it difficult to enjoy my coffee."

The girls of RWBY jumped and turned around at the familiar voice. Ruby pulled her hood over her face, which was dangerously close to turning purple in embarrassment. "Sorry Headmaster," she mumbled with the rest of her team.

Ozpin smiled kindly and took a sip from his mug. "It's quite alright girls. I understand you're excited for your sister team's return. I'm also quite eager myself. I thought I would come to the landing pads and await their return." He walked until he was next to the team and looked at Ruby over the rim of his glasses. Ruby herself had pulled her hood up just enough for her to peak out from under it and meet the headmaster's gaze. "Miss Rose, there is no harm in admitting your feelings for Mr. Arc. He's a good boy, if a bit clumsy. You could certainly do worse."

Ruby yanked her hood back down over her face and repeatedly stomped her feet in frustration. Yang laughed at the expense of her younger sister, who released her hood and launched herself at her sister, who caught her by the collar of her outfit and held her up in the air at arms length while Ruby swung her fists at her sister in vain, striking nothing but air. Ozpin chuckled and took another sip of his coffee as he watched the two sisters. Without looking at the heiress the headmaster spoke. "You know Miss Schnee, you could do worse than Mr. Arc too."

Weiss huffed and crossed her arms. "With all due respect headmaster I could do far better too."

Ozpin shrugged. "And you Miss Belladonna? Surely you have something to say in all this. Especially with your preferred reading material's mature subjects."

Blake turned crimson, snapped the book she had been reading closed, which happened to be the latest in the premiere erotic series "Ninjas of Love", and hid it behind her back. "Well... Weiss and Ruby can have feelings for whoever they want, but I'd rather not get involved in the love triangle between Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha. That way lays madness."

Ozpin laughed and took a deeper drink of his coffee. "An astute observation Mrs. Belladonna. You truly are the grounding factor of this team." He looked up at the Vale skyline and pointed at something in the distance with his cane. "I do believe that would be them."

Indeed a Bullhead was rapidly growing closer to Beacon. Yang dropped Ruby, who had stopped trying to swing at her, and the two sisters ran over to the landing pad to meet their friends with Ozpin, Blake, and Weiss walking after them. The five of them stopped at the edge of where the Bullhead would land and waited, some more patiently than others.

After a couple minutes the Bullheaded landed, the side door opened, and four figures hopped out. However one of them was not who they were expecting. Instead of the blonde, scraggly, halberd wielding team leader of JNPR it was a full grown, musclebound, halberd wielding man in full body plate armor with a helmet hooked to his side that was definitely _not_ Jaune. Ruby frowned and looked at the three members of JNPR. They all seemed... shocked. As though they had seen something they could not quite believe had happened.

An icy sliver of fear pierced Ruby's heart.

 _Oh no._

She raced towards Pyrhha leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. She stopped just before she ran into the red haired champion and looked up at the much taller girl. "Pyrrha?" The fear she felt for Jaune's fate slipped into her voice. "Where's Jaune?"

Pyrrha stared at Ruby uncomprehendingly for a few seconds, then pointed at the sky. "He... He's up there Ruby."

Ruby couldn't stop the pained gasp that escaped her lips. Her hands came up over her mouth. Tears welled up in her silver eyes.

 _No... No it couldn't be true. He can't be... He can't..._

"Jaune..." She whimpered as the tears fell. "Oh Jaune..."

Pyrrha eyes grew to the size of saucers and she grabbed Ruby's shoulder. "Ruby he's not dead! don't worry!"

Wait.

What?

Ruby blinked. "What?"

"He's literally up in the sky Ruby. He should be joining us soon."

Ruby's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. "Oh."

"I'm sorry Ruby," apologized Pyrrha, "I didn't mean to make you think he was dead. It's just... I have _a lot_ on my mind right now."

"What do you mean?" asked a thoroughly confused Ruby. What had happened on their mission? Who was this weird man with JNPR, and why was Jaune up in the sky? Did he take a separate Bullhead from the others? Had his airsickness gotten _that bad_?

"It's... you'll see." The champion looked up into the sky and sighed. "Here he comes now. I wish he'd stop doing this. It seems very dangerous."

Ruby, the rest of her team, and Ozpin, all of whom had caught up with her, looked up into the sky with the three members of team JNPR and the stranger.

RWBY's mouths dropped.

Ozpin's mug dropped.

Jaune dropped out of the sky on top of a big cat, bird, _thing._

The cat-bird, as Ruby was now calling it, spread its massive wings and swooped low over over them, its claws passing just a few inches over their heads. Its paws hit the floor of the landing pad as it skidded to a halt a few feet away, tossed its bird head back, and shrieked loud enough to rattle the windows of the academy. The spectators covered their ears as the beast shrieked. Jaune slid off of it, rubbing his own ears with the hand not holding his halberd. "You know," he said to it, "I get you're excited to be moving again, but you've got to tone it down. My ears can only take so much you know." The cat-bird huffed and rolled it eyes in response.

Team RWBY and Ozpin stared in open shock as the man in armor walked over to Jaune and the cat bird and patted its flanks. "It seems you have a natural affinity for Gryphon riding," said the man.

Jaune laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Not exactly. I fell off like three times. I'm lucky Talon caught me with his claws."

Ruby leaned over to Pyrrha, whose back had become straighter than a metal pole when she had heard Jaune say he'd fell off in mid-air. "So... those are the guests you mentioned?"

"Yes," said Pyrrha stiffly, who Ruby swore was eyeing the cat-bird with something approaching _murder_ in her eyes. "The man's name is Nathaniel. The Gryphon's name is Talon."

"Well," laughed Yang shakily, "at least one of them's a hunky guy."

Jaune looked at RWBY and Ozpin and jogged over to them. Talon and Nathaniel followed behind him. The blonde stopped in front of the shocked team and headmaster, whose mouth still hung open as he stared at Talon. "Guys, headmaster, this is Nathaniel and Talon. Talon is a-"

"A Gryphon," whispered Ozpin in awe. He stepped towards the cat-bird, no, _Gryphon_ , with an outstretched hand, but stopped after taking a couple of steps. "I... Is he yours Mr. Arc?"

"Yes sir."

"May I touch him?"

Jaune looked at Talon, who looked back. The two seemed to have some sort of silent conversation, then Jaune looked back at the headmaster. "Talon's okay with you touching him. In fact you can all pet him if you like." The blonde shot a glare at Nora. "Except you Nora. Consider yourself on probation."

Nora groaned, "come on Jauney! It was just one time!"

"It was three times! And I warned you he would be upset if you called him an, and I quote, ' _adorable little fuzzball of love and happiness.'_ You brought this on yourself."

"Fiiiiine," she groaned.

Ozpin stepped forward, his broken coffee mug laying forgotten on the ground, and gently placed his free hand on the Gryphon's beak. "Amazing," he whispered. "I had read about them in the documents I recovered, but I never thought I would ever _see_ a Gryphon in person. Truly you are a magnificent beast."

"You have documents pertaining to the order?" asked the man in armor, Nathaniel. His hands tightened slightly on the haft of his halberd.

Ozpin turned to face the man. "Yes. I recovered them from long abandoned fortresses whose walls had given away to age, though most of what I've managed to collect were merely scraps. Who would you be?"

The man straightened his stance, his gaze never leaving Ozpin's. "Nathaniel. Knight of the Order."

Ozpin's hand left the Gryphon's beak and he made his way to Nathaniel, his hand outstretched. The knight took the hand and shook it. "Headmaster Ozpin, of Beacon Academy. I was unaware the Order still existed."

"Outside of me, Talon, and Jaune it doesn't."

"Oh?" Ozpin glanced at Jaune curiously, who looked away and shuffled his feet nervously. "I wasn't aware Mr. Arc was a member of the Order."

"He's not technically. Though I plan on training him to be so. He's... Well, if you have documents pertaining to the order then I would like to see them. Can we continue this discussion elsewhere? Preferably where it's just me, you, and the boy."

Ozpin nodded, "of course. Come with me to my office and I will share with you everything I've managed to collect pertaining to the order. Mr. Arc, could you please join us when you've finished with your friends?"

"Yes Headmaster."

The two men walked away, and Ruby was left with far more questions than answers. "Alright, hold on!" shouted Yang. "Who was that?" she asked while pointing at the back of Nathaniel, "and is he single? Secondly, what is _that_?" she pointed at the Gryphon, "and why were you riding it?"

"That's Nathaniel," said Jaune. "He's the last living member of an ancient knightly order called the Order of Light, and yes he's single." He patted the Gryphon. "This is Talon. He's my Gryphon, which is a part lion, part eagle war beast that knights of the Order of Light used to ride on. He's the last living member of his species. As for why I was riding him... well, because I can. He's my Gryphon, which means I can ride him."

Yang blinked uncomprehendingly. "I have so many questions," she whispered.

Ruby had her own questions, but right now there was a far more pressing matter at hand.

There was a fluffy, adorable in a could-probably-eat-you-for-dinner kind of way animal in front of her.

And she had been given express permission to _pet it_.

She zipped over to the Gryphon and halted right in front of it. Talon squawked in surprise at her show of speed. She held out her hand tentatively just over its beak. "Hi," she whispered as she stared at the Gryphon in awe, "you're really cool."

Talon blinked once, then twice, then bumped his beak against her hand. She took that as a sign that he liked her and squealed happily as she ran her hands through its surprisingly soft feathers. "He is so _cool_ " gushed Ruby to Jaune.

He shuffled his feet and scratched the back of his head in that dorky way she liked. "Y-yeah. He's pretty cool."

Like a dam that had burst the other members of RWBY and JNPR, minus Nora, came over and started petting Talon, who as far as Ruby could tell was basking in the attention he was getting the same way Zwei would when they had guests over at their little house in Patch. The little reaper looked back at Nora, who look utterly devastated that she couldn't pet Talon. Ruby bumped Jaune and looked back at Nora pointedly. Jaune sighed and shrugged helplessly. "It's not my decision Ruby. Until Talon's not upset with her there's nothing I can do."

Ruby shrugged. She didn't want to have to do this, but he had really not left her a choice. Ruby looked Jaune dead in they eyes, and activated her most deadly weapon.

The adorable pouty face.

Lips quivered, arms crossed over her chest, and silver eyes grew wide and gazed at him through her lashes as she stared at Jaune forlornly, looking as though there was nothing in the world she wanted more than for Nora to be allowed to come over and pet Talon. Jaune tried to look anywhere except at her, but his gaze was inevitably drawn back to her, and within a few seconds he gave in. "I'll... I'll talk to him, okay? I honestly can't promise anything more. He turned to face Talon and the two again seemed to have another silent conversation, but this time head movements were involved and they would occasionally look at Nora or Ruby. "Okay, then let's see _you_ stand up to it any better then!" Jaune stepped to the side and gestured at Talon. "Let him have it Ruby." Ruby looked at Talon, who looked back. She didn't know if her powers of persuasion would work on a Gryphon, but she figured it couldn't hurt to try.

She laid it on as thick as she could. Lips became more pouty and quivering, arms clasped her sides as she rocked on the heels of her feet, and silver eyes grew even wider and even began to fill with crocodile tears. "Please let my friend come pet you," she whimpered.

Talon stared at her for a good two minutes before he turned to Jaune and squawked once.

"I know, right?!" shouted Jaune as he threw his arms up in exasperation. "So Nora's good then?"

The Gryhpon huffed and rolled his eyes, but nodded. Jaune waved to Nora. "Nora you can come pet him as long as you _promise_ to call him cute, fluffy, a fuzzball, or anything like that."

"Yaaaay!" cried Nora as he ran over and ran her hands through the Gryphon's feathers on his flank.

"So vomit boy," said yang as gently scratched the area where Talon's front shoulder blades and his wings met, "you can talk to him?"

"Not exactly," said Jaune sheepishly, "it's more like... I understand his thoughts, and he understands mine. He knows what I'm saying, but I can't understand what comes out of his mouth, er, beak, so I just kind of... understand his thoughts."

"Where did you even find him?' whispered an amazed Weiss.

"It's a really long story, and not one I want to repeat right now." he grinned at Weiss in what Ruby was sure was meant to be a roguish way, but came out as flat out dorky. That he nearly tripped over his own halberd did not help. "But he's pretty cool, huh? If you like I could take you for a ride on him. Just me, you, and the Vale skyline." Talon squawked irritably at Jaune, who jumped and blushed. "And Talon, of course. Heh." He straightened up, almost tripped over his halberd again, and attempted another roguish smile that was just as dorky as the first. "S-so what do you say?"

For a few seconds Ruby thought Weiss would actually take him up on his offer, but then she turned her nose up at him. "As if I would trust you ten thousand feet in the air. You'd probably drop me within the first five minutes."

Ruby looked at Pyrrha and smiled sadly for the champion, who smiled back and shrugged her shoulders in a helpless, " _what can you do?"_ way. Ruby and Yang zipped over to Pyrrha. The blonde bombshell leaned over to the two of them and whispered, "you both know Weiss isn't into him, but now that he's got an awesome flying pet you two might want to get it in gear, because some other girls are _definitely_ going to be interested in him when the rest of the school sees Talon."

Pyrhha frowned and looked at Yang in confusion. "Both of us?"

Silver eyes grew wide with terror. "Nothing!" squeaked Ruby as she grabbed her older sister and dragged her away from the others. "Yang Xiao Long," she whispered furiously, "I swear if you try to get some sort of competition going between me and Pyrrha I will tell Dad about your bike! I do _not_ like Jaune. He's nice, and funny, and kind, and tells better jokes than, and kind of cu- handsome, but I _do not_ like him. Even if I did, and I'm not saying I do, I wouldn't try to take him from Pyrrha!"

Yang smirked, but relented. "Okay little sis, I get it. I won't try to start a competition between you and Pyrrha. I had my fun. Promise."

Ruby eyed her sister warily. Yang was usually good about keeping her promises, but she was also a master of loopholes. Ruby would take what Yang had said at face value... for now. The sisters rejoined Pyrhha, who still looked confused. "Heh, sorry," said Ruby, "Yang was just being silly. She meant that _you_ should get it in gear because some other girls are definitely going to be into him after they see Talon."

Pyrrha's face started turning the color of her hair. "I-I suppose, but he doesn't like me that way, and the last thing I'd want to do is make things in the team uncomfortable by making him aware of how I feel."

Yang sighed and shook her head. "What ever you say Nikos, but at least try dropping some subtle hints for him, just to see how he reacts."

Pyrrha shrugged, "maybe. I'll just have to..." her sentence died off as she stared off into space, then looked at Jaune, who was still trying in vain to convince Weiss of the merits of going on a flight with him. "Jaune!" she called out.

His head turned to look at the three of them. "Yeah?"

"You rode Talon all the way here?"

"Well, yeah. Why?"

"And you never got airsick?"

He grinned proudly and was about to respond when suddenly his eyes flew open in fear and his face turned a sickly shade of green. He sprinted to the edge of the Bullhead platform, bent over it, and promptly began discharging everything in his stomach. Pyrrha rushed over and stared rubbing his back as he barfed, whispering soothingly to him.

"Did he really forget he had airsickness?" asked an amazed Blake.

"I believe the exciting past few hours made him forget about his ailment," stated Lie Ren. "Being reminded of it probably brought it back." He patted Talon's side mournfully. "I weep for you great beast, and I pray that he never throws up while mounted upon you."

Talon warbled sadly as he watched his rider continue to throw up. The poor Gryphon was probably dreading the moment when he got puke all over his feathers.

* * *

Thirty minutes after Jaune had finished puking up everything in his stomach, possibly including parts of his stomach, he stood in Headmaster Ozpin's tower with Ozpin, Nathaniel, and Glynda in attendance as the Headmaster and Deputy listened to the story of how Jaune had come across Talon. The Gryphon in question was currently in the Emerald Forest, hunting for prey to eat and Grimm to kill. Team RWBY and his teammates had returned to JNPR's dorm to wait for him to come tell them them the story too after Ozpin was done with him.

Ozpin had told him and Nathaniel that he already knew about Salem and Vaya thanks to the documents he had retrieved from old Order fortresses whose sealed doors had failed, and even known about Jaune's importance to the order thanks to the drawing he'd found of Jaune, but he was ignorant of what Jaune's exact purpose was. After briefly discussing it between themselves Nathaniel and Jaune decided to tell Ozpin and Glynda about his role in the fate of the world. They knew enough that they would be valuable allies, and Jaune had conceded that Ozpin would probably find out anyway. He was good at that.

Jaune had to admit though that he was surprised at how calmly Ozpin was taking all of this. Hearing that Jaune was for all intents and purposes the world's savior should have made the white haired man go running for the nearest solid piece of cover available, but he simply poured coffee into his new mug, then raised the steaming brew to his mouth, sniffed the fumes appreciatively, and took a sip from the mug. A sip that quickly turned into him downing the entire cup in seconds, refilling it, and downing the whole cup again like a sober alcoholic that had found his way into the wine cellar. After his third cup Jaune realized that Ozpin was not taking the news of Jaune's role as world saving hero as well as he had initially thought he had, and that coffee was Ozpin's way of staying calm in a stressful situation.

That the Headmaster had a full cup of the black liquid with him at all times spoke volumes to Jaune.

Ozpin placed the now empty mug on his table. The thermos tipped over and fell of the table. Empty.

Jaune had attempted counted the number of cups the Headmaster had been able to fill up with that thermos. He'd stopped counting after ten.

"This is certainly..." interesting," said Ozpin calmly. "I will admit I am a little worried. You say we have roughly twenty years before Salem is strong enough to attack us?"

"Ten to twenty," responded Nathaniel, "most likely closer to twenty, but after ten years we should be ready for anything. That is of course, unless something happens to slow or speed her recovery."

"Like what?"

"Anything that increases or decreases negativity. She feeds off of it like her Grimm. The more of it there is the faster her recovery will be, but the opposite is also true. Everything we do to decrease negativity would likely buy us more time, though I couldn't say off hand how much."

Ozpin nodded and raised his mug to his lips, then stopped halfway when he realized it was empty. He sighed and put it down. "And you're sure Mr. Arc is Vaya's new champion?"

"I'm positive. That drawing you found proves it. He's our greatest hope for stopping Salem, probably our only hope."

"Hmmm." Ozpin rubbed his chin as he studied Jaune. The blonde could imagine what was going through the white haired man's head, and none of it was good. "That may be, but I have a few cards of my own to play. Tell me Mr. Arc, how does all this make you feel?"

Jaune laughed nervously. "Honestly sir? Terrified, but... I have to do this. One way or the other Salem is coming. I can't just pretend she won't. Maybe I'll be ready to face her, or maybe I won't, but I have to try."

For the first time since Jaune had arrived at the tower, Ozpin smiled. "That's a very good answer Mr. Arc. Tell me, how much do your teammates or team Ruby know of this?"

"Nothing," Jaune said honestly. "I haven't told them anything about Salem, Vaya, or my role in... all this. I'll tell them about the Order, and I'll tell them that someday it will be my job as Cailan's heir to revive the order, but for now I won't tell them anything else."

Ozpin and Nathaniel nodded approvingly. "That's a good idea boy," said Nathaniel, "the less they know, the safer they are."

"Indeed," agreed Ozpin, "however I do not doubt that this Salem has her spies planted all throughout Remnant, including in my academy. She will undoubtedly learn of Talon's existence and the Order's survival soon."

"She'll come after me and Talon, won't she?" asked Jaune. He had figured that would be the case. He wasn't excited by the prospect of assassin's trying to kill him at every turn, but he supposed that it would be a fact of his life now.

"I doubt she'll send killers after either of you, or Nathaniel," responded Ozpin. "Even if she has spies here in Beacon she has no real power here. However you and Talon should stay together as much as possible."

"Yes sir." Jaune said.

Ozpin lifted the mug back to his lips. This time it got a fourth of the way up before he put it back down with a sigh. "You may go Mr. Arc. I don't like you being dragged into this secret war of ours, but the fact is that you're in it now, and I fear you will be in it until the very end. Go and be with your friends. There is still much more you need to know, but it can wait until I've informed Nathaniel of these things and found a place for him here in Beacon."

Jaune nodded and stepped into the elevator, pushed the button for the floor the dorms were on, and listened to show tunes as the elevator trundled down.

That had been... strangely anti-climactic. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it seemed that Ozpin already knew most of what was going on. They hadn't had to convince him to help them against Salem or convince him that they weren't raving lunatics. He had accepted everything calmly, at least outwardly. If the sheer amount of coffee the headmaster had downed was any indicator he was probably freaking out internally.

Jaune sighed as he stepped out of the elevator. It was going to be hard to keep all of this from his friends, but he had to for their sakes. The less they knew, the safer they were. Already he felt the weight of responsibility, the weight of the future, settle upon his shoulders like the imposing shroud of death.

Was this what Nathaniel and Ozpin felt? This sense that everything rested on their shoulders, their decisions? It was terrifying knowing that he was privy to information that had to do with the fate of the worlds, and he had no one his age to talk to about it.

 _Come on Arc. You can do this. You_ have _to do this. For your friends, and your family._

If the weight of the world rested on his shoulders, then he would just use that weight strengthen himself in mind and body.

"Vaya help me," he muttered. He wondered if she was really listening to him.

* * *

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter of Jaune Arc, Gryphon Knight! This chapter isn't action packed, and is more everyone getting to know Talon and Jaune starting to get integrated into the secret war against Salem. Since this story is following the three RWBY volumes that are currently out I'm going to go back and re-watch volume one so I can be sure I stick to the story line as much as possible.**

 **If you liked this story then please follow and favorite if you haven't already, and if you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then leave a review. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction and you think they would enjoy this, then please tell them about the story! I love you all. BBYYYEEEEEEE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**HEEELLLOOOOO! I'm glad y'all enjoyed the last chapter! I don't have much to say here except that we're almost at one hundred follows, which is AWESOME! I kinda wish my other story, "The Vagabond", had so many follows (hint hint nudge nudge) but I'm glad to see that there are no major complaints, which tells me I'm doing a pretty good job. Please enjoy this next chapter of "Jaune Arc, Gryphon Knight", in which we will be wrapping up the events of volume 1.**

* * *

Jaune hastily deflected a strike from Nathaniel as he backpedaled out of the knight's reach. He circled the man warily, looking for an opening in his guard. There wasn't one. Jaune stepped in and jabbed Brillant Mors at Nathaniel, who sidestepped the thrust and swung the blade of the halberd at Jaune. It caught him in the temple, knocking him over and making him thankful for aura's protective properties. The air was driven out of Jaune stomach as the spearhead of Nathaniel's own halberd nailed him in the stomach. Jaune hastily scrambled backwards, narrowly avoiding another thrust from Nathaniel and pushed himself to his feet with one hand and thrust the spearhead of Brillant Mors at Nathaniel with the other. The spearhead hit Nathaniel squarely in the face plate of his helmet and knocked the knight back with a curse. Jaune leaped up and whooped with joy. That was the first time he had ever landed a solid strike on Nathaniel in the past two weeks since he had begun training under the knight.

His excitement came to an abrupt end as the hammerhead of Nathaniel's halberd slammed into his side with enough force to fling the boy to the edge of the roof. Jaune groaned in pain and attempted to push himself up and bring Brillant Mors to bear, but a steel boot slammed down on his hand with enough force to hurt him even through his aura, and when Jaune looked up he saw the spearhead of Nathaniel's weapon in between his eyes. The old knight pushed the face plate of his helmet up and stared at the boy with a raised eyebrow. "Now, what did you do wrong?"

Jaune sighed and laid back, waiting for Nathaniel to move his foot off of his hand. The older man stayed right where he was. "I didn't follow up on my attack after I caught you with that jab." Jaune finally said.

"And why didn't you?"

"I was... too busy celebrating."

"And what will celebration on the battlefield make you?"

"Dead?" Jaune guessed.

"Precisely." Nathaniel moved the halberd from between Jaune's eyes and his boot off of the boy's hand. The blonde pushed himself to his feet as Nathaniel walked over to where their water bottles were and slipped his hand under his shirt to gingerly press a finger against his side where Nathaniel had hit him. He winced.

 _Oh yeah, that's a bruise._

Jaune caught a flash of red and gold out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Pyrrha practically running towards him. He sighed and shook his head, but didn't try to stop her. Ever since Nathaniel had taken over his training she had been acting overprotective. She insisted on accompanying them every time they trained on the roof, which Jaune supposed was fair, but during the first couple days of training she would interrupt them if Nathaniel's halberd so much as grazed Jaune. Eventually she had calmed down, but she still badgered him during every break and after training was done with constant questions of whether or not she was sure he was okay. It had gotten to the point where he welcomed the next fight and dreaded the breaks after every sparring session.

She placed her own hand against his bruised side. "Are you okay?" she asked anxiously. "Is anything broken?"

Jaune pulled her hand away and pulled down his shirt and hoodie. "I'm fine Pyrrha. It's just bruised. My aura will have it healed up before the break's over."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should take a longer break this time, just to be sure."

Before Jaune could respond Nathaniel spoke up. "Girl, if you keep coddling him like that and he'll never get better. Bruises in training are better than a gaping chest wound in battle." Nathaniel took a swig from his bottle and wiped his lips, some of the water dripping down his beard.

"With all due respect _sir,_ Jaune is my partner and team leader. I'm simply doing my job as his teammate to look out for him." While the statement itself was polite enough it was laced with venom. Jaune didn't know what Pyrrha's problem with Nathaniel was, but he wished she would just _get over it_. In the past two weeks of training with Nathaniel Jaune's prowess in combat had improved dramatically. True Nathaniel's rough training had meant he had gone to bed sore and bruised on many occasions, but it was more than worth it. If things continued the way they were Jaune would hopefully be on the same level as his teammates by the end of the semester. Which frankly was all he currently wanted. The end of the world wouldn't come for another ten years at the very least. For now he just wanted to focus on being up to par with his peers.

"It's fine Pyrrha, really." Jaune reassured her. "Nathaniel's right. He might be rough, but I'm getting better every day." He bumped her shoulder playfully. "Who knows?," he joked, "maybe by the end of the year I'll be able to take you on."

That made Pyrrha smile. "I would like to see that." The smile faded, and she leaned in and whispered to him. "Though I wish he'd be a bit more careful. I thought you were going to go over the edge of the roof back there."

Jaune laughed and waved off her concerns. "If I fall off then Talon will just catch me." He waved to his Gryphon, who was curled up on an adjacent area of open roof. "Won't you buddy?" The Gryphon's wings rose and fell in what Jaune had learned was the equivalent of a shrug.

" _maybe,"_ the Gryphon thought mischievously, _"after you threw up all over my back I may not"_.

Jaune rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Talon said yes."

Jaune had been practicing his flying with Talon after he was finished sparring with Nathaniel. The first few times he had thrown up, though usually he had been able to turn his head to the side to keep it from splattering all over himself and the war beast. However there had been a couple moments when he hadn't moved fast enough and wound up making a horrible mess. Fortunately as he got used to flying his airsickness had begun to lessen. He still got queasy at times, and he had actually thrown up three days ago, but it was a marked improvement.

Typically the path that Jaune and Talon would take would lead over the roof tops of Beacon and then over to Emerald forest for the Gryphon to hunt both food to eat and Grimm to fight. Jaune was still having trouble with mounted combat, but fortunately the sheer might and power of Talon was typically enough to protect them both if Jaune made a mistake, which he was thankfully doing less and less often. Whenever the two of them took to the air a crowd of students would gather outside to watch them fly.

At least, they did until one of Jaune's moments of projectile vomiting had hit some poor girl named... Java, or something like that. Her name had something to do with coffee, but for the life of him Jaune couldn't remember what exactly it was. Now most people watched through open dorm windows that could be hastily shut in the event of projectile vomit.

Nathaniel tossed Jaune his water bottle. The blonde opened it and took a grateful drink. Suddenly his scroll starting ringing some techno song that he recognized at Ruby's ringtone. He pulled the scroll out of his pocket and accepted the call, holding the phone up to his ear. "What's up Ruby?"

"Hey Jaune, its Blake. Last night she and Weiss... well..."

"Had an argument?" guessed Jaune. "We heard it on our end of the hall."

"H-how much did you hear?!"

Jaune frowned at the panic in Ruby's voice. Why would she be worried over what he heard? "Nothing specific. Just the sound of arguing filtered through, but we couldn't really make out individual words."

He heard Ruby sigh from the other end of the line. "Okay, well she didn't come back at all last night, and I was wondering, if you're not busy that is..."

"You want Juniper to help?" He guessed. "Say no more Ruby. We're always ready to help our sister team."

"Thanks Jaune! Just meet us at the bullhead landing pads. We'll talk more about it there."

"Got it. See you there." Jaune hung up his scroll and slipped it into his pocket. When he looked up he met three sets of curious eyes belonging to Pyrrha, Nathaniel, and Talon. "Blake's missing. She left team Ruby's dorm room last night after her argument with Weiss and didn't come back. Ruby wants Juniper's help searching."

"Of course we'll help," Pyrrha said determinedly, "Blake's our friend. I'm sure Ren and Nora will say the same thing."

"I know they will," Jaune said with confidence as he finished typing up a message to the two of them on his scroll, "which is why I've told them to meet us at the bullhead pads. That's where Ruby said we should meet."

"Take Talon with you," instructed Nathaniel, "It'll be good for the people to see him and get used to his presence."

The citizens of Vale already knew of Talon's existence. It had been impossible to hide his presence from the students of Beacon, so Jaune, Ozpin, and Nathaniel hadn't even tried. Of course news of the Gryphon had spread fast to the city, though no one outside of Jaune, Ozpin, and Nathaniel knew exactly what a Gryphon was. This would be the citizen's first time seeing the war beast.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," said Pyrrha.

"I'll be fine Pyrrha," Jaune assured her with a pat on the shoulder, "I've gotten a lot better at riding him, and if I do fall Talon will just catch me like always."

"Can't I come with you?" she asked, no practically _begged_ Jaune. "That way if something does happen I can just use my semblance to stop you from falling off."

Jaune wanted to say no. He didn't mind spending time with Pyrrha, but flying was an experience he was finally starting to enjoy. If she came along then her constant worry over his slightest shift in the saddle would make it harder for him to enjoy himself and focus on the task at hand, but that look in her eyes... it was unnervingly similar to what Ruby did when she put on that adorable pouty face of hers. Just like against Ruby's pouty face he couldn't say no. "Let me talk to Talon," he sighed. He turned to face the warbeast, but before he could even say anything over their mental link Talon spoke.

 _"Absolutely not."_

Jaune sighed and held up his hands imploringly. " _Why not? She hasn't insulted you, and it's not like it'll be just the two of you. I'll be up there too."_

Talon tossed his head regally, turning his beak up in the same way a human would turn their nose up at someone they found displeasing. " _She doesn't like me. She thinks I'll get you killed. She doubts my ability to fly and ensure the safety of my rider."_

By god, or Vaya, or _whatever_ could his best friend and his mount just get along? Jaune shrugged. " _She's just worried about me is all. If she came with us she would see how much I've improved as a rider and how capable of a mount you are."_

 _"Her constant badgering will distract both of us. We might miss something in our search for the faunus."_

Jaune blinked. "The what?"

 _"The faunus. Blake is her name correct? The quiet one who reads all the time."_

Jaune frowned and shook his head. "That's her yeah, but she's a human."

Talon stared at Jaune uncomprehendingly. " _No she's a faunus. A cat faunus to be exact_ _. She hides her ears inside the bow? You can't honestly tell me that you can't have noticed. It's rather obvious, what with how the bow twitches occasionally, and how she smells faintly of cat."_

Jaune's mouth opened, then closed. "W-wait. Blake... she... why didn't you say anything before?!"

Talon huffed irritably. " _I thought you all knew, though I suppose it should have been obvious that you wouldn't. Humans aren't nearly as observant as I."_

Jaune's mouth hung open. Blake? A _faunus_?

Come to think of it though she did like tuna a lot...

Though this did clear up some of the mystery of why Blake left. Considering the Schnee Dust Company's strained relationship with the faunus it made sense that Blake would decide to keep her heritage a secret with Weiss on her team. If her secret had come to light then that certainly explained why they had argued, and why she had decided to leave.

"Well," Jaune muttered, "that's a thing I'll deal with later, but we need to get back on track. Can Pyrrha fly with us?"

 _"I've already said no. She'll just be a nuisance. Besides you can't allow her to continue to baby you the way she does. Nathaniel is your mentor now, and she needs to accept that."_

Jaune gritted his teeth. He didn't like Talon talking about Pyrrha like she was dead weight. In truth the blonde knew she was far more useful than he was, but he knew Talon was at least a little right. " _If she came with us she would see that she wouldn't have to worry so much. In the long run it'll be better for everyone. She'll see that I'm doing fine, and that you're a perfectly capable mount."_

Talon preened himself. " _You're right about me being perfect at least. Very well, she may fly with us, but if she causes us any trouble I will land and she will have to dismount."_

Jaune sighed in relief. If Talon had continued to refuse he would have been forced to resort to threatening Talon with Ruby's pouty face, but he'd prefer not to resort to such low tactics. He turned to Pyrrha. "Talon's okay with you flying with us, but _only_ if you promise not to cause any trouble or distract us." He quickly backed away from the champion as the look on her face turned to one of anger. "Hey his words, not mine okay?" He leaned in close to Pyrrha and whispered, "consider it a chance to prove to him that you're as awesome as I know you are."

This seemed to brighten the redheaded girl up considerably. She flashed Jaune a smile that could have melted snow with its warmth. "I would be delighted to fly with you Jaune."

"Great!" Jaune said. "Let's head to the Bullhead pads. The others are probably already there waiting for us."

* * *

"Here comes the dunce now," Weiss said with a sigh as she watched the Gryphon fly over the rooftops of Beacon towards herself, Ruby, Yang, and Ren and Nora. She did _not_ feel comfortable knowing that a beast like that was in the hands of someone like Jaune. It was an absolute recipe for disaster. One or both of them would be inevitably killed, and while his death would make her life a lot easier Weiss didn't dislike the boy nearly enough to wish him harm.

After all, it wasn't his fault that she was an heiress. All any boy who had ever shown any interest in her had ever _really_ been after was her money. They didn't care about her.

Beside her Ruby jumped up and down and waved at Jaune and Talon as they came in for a landing. Weiss couldn't tell what their leader or Pyrrha saw in the blonde dunce, but Weiss wished that one of them would just hurry up and confess to him so Jaune would leave her alone. The Gryphon glided down and skidded to a halt a few feet in front of them. To Weiss's surprise Pyrrha hopped off the back of Talon and jogged over to them. Jaune remained on his mount as Talon walked over to them. Like she always did when she saw the big bird Ruby zipped over to Talon and started petting him. "Is he going to help us search?" asked Ruby.

"He is," confirmed Jaune. "Nathaniel thought it would be a good idea so that the people of Vale could get used to his presence."

"Provided you don't throw up on anyone," scoffed Weiss.

"I-it was only one time!" protested Jaune, "besides I'm sure Java has forgotten all about it."

"Her name is Coco," corrected Weiss, "and no, she hasn't. She's sworn she'll kill you the first time she lays eyes on you." She smirked at the blonde boy. "She asked me if I wanted to help her, but blood is hard to wash out of my clothes, so I unfortunately had to turn her down." If _that_ didn't get the message of how little she cared for him across then Weiss didn't know what would.

"Awe!" gushed Jaune, "I knew you cared Snow Angel!"

Then again Jaune Arc was widely considered to be the densest person in the academy for good reason...

Weiss had already gotten her hand on Mrytenaster before Ruby managed to jump in and stop her from drawing it and freezing the insufferable dunce to his over sized chicken. "Weiss come on!" whined Ruby. "We need his help to find Blake!"

Ah yes. _Her_.

Weiss didn't know what to think of their missing teammate. She had been a member of the White Fang, an terrorist organization that was not only severely anti-human, but had also been at war with her family for years. Weiss had every right to be glad of Blake's disappearance, regardless of what Ruby and Yang thought.

And yet...

Ever since their first day at Beacon Blake could have killed her at any time. It would have been easy too. All she would have had to do was strike while Weiss was sleeping, and the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company would be dead. It would be a huge victory for the White Fang over both the SDC and the four kingdoms. Despite this Blake hadn't harmed her in the least, and had actually worked with her throughout the school year.

Weiss released her grip on her rapier. "Very well," she sighed. "Let's get moving then."

* * *

"Nothing," Jaune sighed, "We've been searching for most of the day and haven't even found a trace of her." For the past several hours Jaune and Pyrrha had flown over the rooftops of Vale in search of the missing member of RWBY. On occasion they had landed and the partners had asked people if they had seen anyone who matched her description. No one had.

Predictably the people had been astounded by the sight of Talon. Though news of the Gryphon's presence at Beacon had spread like wildfire through the city, as had videos of him and Jaune flying over the school, none of the civilians had ever actually seen the war beast, and on more than one occasion valuable search time had been wasted explaining what a Gryphon was and telling people that they couldn't ride him. More than a few people had been afraid to even approach the war beast, but they hadn't been shot down by the police or military, so Jaune was taking that as a sign that it was okay for him to fly over the city.

"She's got to be somewhere in the city," mused Pyrrha from her position sitting behind him as they flew over the city. "Where haven't we searched yet?"

"Between the three of us and the others we've pretty much searched high and low. The only places we haven't checked have been nonresidential areas like the docks." Jaune looked up at the dark sky above them. It was night, and even with streetlights their ability to spot their friend would be compromised by the dark. On top of that Talon was growing tired of flying across the city pointlessly with two people on his back. Jaune was just about to suggest to Pyrrha that they call the others and suggest calling off the search until tomorrow morning when an explosion rocked the air. Talon squawked in surprise and looked towards the source of the explosion. Black smoke billowed up from the docks miles away, marking the location of the detonation.

"What are the chances Blake's there?" asked Pyrrha.

Jaune sighed, "our luck? Probably really good." He twirled his halberd and couched it under his arm. "Head towards the smoke Talon, and be ready for a fight."

* * *

Jaune slammed the hammerhead of Brillant Mors into the stomach of the White Fang member, knocking the poor faunus into a cargo container where he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Talon headbutted another who collapsed immediately, either unconscious or having enough sense to not get back up. _"We would be doing much better if you'd just let me kill them."_

Jaune sighed as he slammed the pommel of his weapon into the temple of another White Fang member. "I told you, we are _not_ killing them! I don't want human blood on my hands, or your beak, or whatever! No killing!"

At that moment three White Fang members went sailing past as Nora nailed them with her hammer. Jaune couldn't help but wince as they slammed into the cargo container, clearly hearing bones break from the impact. Not for the first time Jaune was glad the ginger was on his team. Her power was unholy. At that moment three White Fang members armed with swords came around the corner and skidded to a halt when they saw the Gryphon. Immediately they turned to run, but Talon took off after them, clearing the distance with a few powerful strides. He grabbed the first in his beak by the terrorist's collar and flung him aside as Jaune smashed Brillant Mors's hammer head into the knee cap of the other two terrorists. He winced at the sound of bones breaking and their screams of pain, but it was preferable to killing them.

The two crippled men collapsed and Talon spread his wings and took to the air. Mount and rider scanned the docks, looking for any enemies that they needed to deal with. It looked like they were all either down, or being dealt with by Ruby and the ginger haired girl who Jaune had never seen before that had shown up with Ruby and the other members of JNPR. Ren and Nora were tag teaming a group of White Fang, while Pyrrha was taking on ten all by herself and barely breaking a sweat in taking them down. Ruby and the ginger haired girl were dealing with a group of White Fang who just didn't have the good sense to back down. Yang and Weiss hadn't shown up, and it was looking like by the time they did all of the White Fang members who hadn't escaped with Torchwick would be dealt with.

By the time Jaune and Pyrrha had shown up on Talon Roman had already fled, and all that had been left for the two of them to do was to help Ruby, her friend, Ren, and Nora (who had shown up earlier) mop up the remaining White Fang who hadn't cut and run. Jaune didn't even know what Blake was doing at the docks. Why would she be at the scene of a major heist by a group of violently radical faunus? Sure she _was_ a faunus, as Jaune had learned earlier that day, but that didn't mean she had any ties to the White Fang.

Right?

"I think that's all of them," said Jaune, "let's land and group up with the others." Talon swooped down and landed next to the other members of JNPR. Jaune hopped off of the Gryphon's back. "You guys okay?" he asked, directing the question at both his teammates and Ruby and Blake.

"We're fine," responded Ruby as she helped Blake over to a crate where she sat the girl down. "Blake and her monkey friend are tired and a little out of it, but its nothing some rest won't fix." the monkey faunus limped over and sat on the crate next Blake. The two shared a tired smile as they leaned against each other for support.

"As much as I would hate to ruin the mood," said Ren to Blake and the monkey faunus, "could the two of you please explain what happened here, and why you were in the middle of it?"

Blake looked around as if to be sure there was no one else around, then she reached her hands up to her head and placed them on her bow, right before the monkey boy placed his own hand on hers. "You don't have to if you don't want to you know."

She smiled at him. "It's alright Sun. I trust them. They're my friends." The monkey boy Sun thought about this for a second, then removed his hand. Blake removed the bow, and in its place were two black cat ears that Jaune wasn't afraid to admit he found slightly adorable. Everyone except for Sun and Jaune gasped in shock when they saw the ears. "The reason I was here at the docks is because I... used to be a member of the White Fang." Another gasp of shock, and this time Jaune joined in. "It was before I joined Beacon though, so no one there knew about my past. When I got into that argument with Weiss it just kind of... slipped out. I ran, and ran into Sun here. We spent a couple days together-"

"Wait!" shouted Nora as she leaned in close to Blake, her face only a couple inches from the cat faunus's. "When you say together..." she cupped her hands around her mouth and spoke in a whisper that was still loud enough for everyone to hear, "do you mean _together together_?"

Jaune had to bite back a laugh as Blake face went from bewildered to shocked, and then embarrassed. "N-no! Nothing happened! We are not together! Not like that anyway. W-what I mean to say is..."

"That's enough Nora," said Ren calmly as he dragged his partner back.

Blake sighed, her face crossing the line from pink to red while Sun grinned victoriously and gave Nora a thumbs up, which she returned. "As I was saying, we spent a couple days together, _nothing happened_ , and then I told Sun about my former involvement in the White Fang, and how I was hoping to prove that they weren't behind the string of dust store robberies over the past months. He suggested that we stake out the docks because of a large shipment of Schnee Dust Company dust which would be a likely next target of the thieves so we could see who the robbers were. So we did, and I think you can probably piece the rest together."

"Why didn't you come to us Blake?" asked Ruby, who looked absolutely downcast.

"I... didn't think you'd want to see me again," admitted Blake.

"Of course I would!" shouted Ruby as she took Blake's hands in her own. "You're my friend and teammate Blake, and I'm sure Weiss and Yang will say the same thing when they get here. We don't care how many ears you have, or who you used to associate with. You're a member of team Ruby now. You're one of us."

At that moment Yang and Weiss showed up. Both of them rushed over to Blake and wrapped her in a tight hug. "I don't care if you're a faunus," said Weiss, "but next time there's a problem I want you to come to us instead of some- instead of someone else. Okay?"

Blake smiled and hugged them both back, "okay."

As team JNPR witnessed the heartfelt moment between team RWBY Jaune leaned over to his teammates and muttered, "do you guys ever feel like we're side characters in some sort of story? Like team RWBY are the main characters, but we're the highly beloved secondary team that, while we're not the main characters, we're just as popular?"

"That's a rather specific example," responded a bewildered Pyrrha.

"I know," replied Jaune, "but it just kind of came to me. Like team Ruby always does the wild and crazy stuff, and we're just kind of along for the ride."

"You know," said Nora thoughtfully, "I sometimes feel the same way. Though I always kind of figured we were a bit more popular than the main characters cause we are _way_ more quirky and funny."

Ren sighed and patted Nora's head. "Of course you'd think that Nora."

Jaune shrugged. "It was just this weird kind of niggling feeling I had you know? But that's silly. At the end of the day we're our own main characters in our own stories."

"Right?"

* * *

Three days after the dock incident Jaune was in the headmaster's office along with Nathaniel. Mentor and student stood across from Ozpin and Glynda, who was seated at his desk with his cup of coffee and with Glynda standing at his shoulder. "So let me be sure I have this right," said the headmaster as he refilled his mug, "you want to remove Mr. Arc from his regular classes and tutor him privately?"

"Yes," confirmed Nathaniel, "While Jaune's combat ability and physique have progressed at an acceptable rate this past two weeks he could improve at a dramatically faster pace if he was wholly focused on his training with me."

"What of you assisting Glynda during combat classes?" questioned Ozpin. When Ozpin had been looking for a suitable placement for Nathaniel in Beacon Glynda had suggested that he assist her during combat classes as his fighting style was wholly melee oriented while hers focused on fighting with aura at range. Together the two of them were able to give a more thorough break down on fights and instruct students on how to better themselves. There were only four combat classes in the week, one for each year of students.

"Jaune can accompany me," replied Nathaniel, "he would benefit from watching older students fight, and he would still participate in first year combat class. I don't seek to shirk my duties here Ozpin, only improve Jaune's capabilities. You know we need him to be ready as soon as possible."

Ozpin nodded thoughtfully, taking another sip from his mug. "You make a fair point, but what do _you_ want to do Mr. Arc?"

Jaune jumped in surprise, not expecting Ozpin to ask for his input. "Me, sir?"

"Yes you Mr. Arc. For all intents and purposes whatever you choose here will affect your future. It's only right that you should make the final decision."

"Well..." the blonde scratched the back of his head. He wanted to say no. He wanted to stay in his normal classes with his teammates, even if that meant suffering Port's lectures. On top of that he knew his teammates would want him to stay too. They would be up in arms against Nathaniel if he took anymore of Jaune's time away from them, and in Nora's case she might literally be up in arms, as in with her hammer.

But this wasn't about what he wanted, or what his team wanted. He had told them about the Order of Light, and his own role as its eventual reviver, but they didn't know about Salem, or her return, and they were better off not knowing. The sooner Jaune completed his training the sooner he could revive the order, and the better equipped humanity would be to battle Salem when she returned.

"It doesn't matter what I want," Jaune replied with a resigned shrug. "It's about what's best for everyone. I'll do it because even though I'd rather stay in my normal classes with my friends and teammates it's my duty to do it."

Ozpin smiled sadly as he put down his mug of coffee. "Mr. Arc. I want you to know that if I could I would make it so that you were blissfully unaware of the true dangers this world faces, but I cannot do that, and you are right. We must all do things we don't like for the sake of all Remnant. Which is why I have decided to show you something we have kept hidden underneath the school."

Glynda and Nathaniel's eyes widened in shock. "Ozpin! Are... are you sure?" asked Glynda. "I understand he's already involved in all this, but showing him _that_?"

"I... I have to agree," said Nathaniel carefully, "I don't know if that's the wisest decision. If he should accidentally slip up and say something in front of the wrong people..."

Jaune frowned in confusion as he tried to follow the conversation. What were they talking about? What was being kept under the school? Some sort of weapon?

"He won't slip up," said Ozpin with confidence. "I have long since learned to trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me he needs to know." The headmaster stood up from his desk, mug in one hand and cane in the other. "If you will follow us Mr. Arc, there is something you need to see." With that the headmaster of Beacon walked towards the elevator with Nathaniel, Glynda, and Jaune close behind. The four of them entered it, and when the door slid closed Ozpin wrapped his cane on the floor of the elevator in a pattern. Beneath the button for each floor a panel slid back, revealing a palm scanner. Ozpin pressed his palm against the scanner, which lit up green. "I'll be sure to give you the necessary security clearance and code needed to access the palm scanner in case you should ever need to in case of an emergency," said Ozpin to Jaune. The elevator started moving downwards. The numbers descended as the elevator descended, until the number on the display read zero, and the door opened. First to walk out was Ozpin, then Glynda, Nathaniel, and finally Jaune, who hesitantly stepped out.

The elevator had put them out in a massive hallway that reminded Jaune of the sanctuary, but far less decorated. Realizing the others were already walking on Jaune rushed to follow them. "What is this place?" he asked when he caught up.

"The vault," replied Ozpin after taking another sip of coffee. "This is where one of the greatest secrets of mankind is being kept."

"What is it? a weapon?"

"Not exactly, no" chuckled the headmaster. "Tell me Mr. Arc. Did you ever read fairy tales as a child?"

Jaune shrugged, the pommel of Brillant Mors clanking against the metal floor as he tapped it against the ground nervously. "A little bit, though I don't remember any of them very well. The only stories that ever really stuck with me were the ones my grandad told me about great Arc heroes."

"Do you recall a story named 'The Four maidens'?"

Jaune frowned in concentration. That certainly sounded familiar... "I think so, yeah. It's about some old man who gives magic power to these four sisters." His eyes widened in shock and he spun towards Nathaniel. "Wait a minute, those maidens you told me about back at the sanctuary. Are- are they the ones in the fairy tale?"

Nathaniel nodded, "the very same, though at the time I was unaware there was a fairy tail about them."

Jaune gulped. "So I assume whatever's down here has to do with them?"

"Exactly so," confirmed Ozpin, "the Gryphon Knights may be the world's greatest hope for victory, but as I've said already, I have a few cards of my own to play." He stopped walking and pointed his cane at something in front of them. Jaune had been so caught up in his conversation with the headmaster that he hadn't realized they had reached their goal. "This is one of those cards."

Jaune looked forward, and had to stop himself from tripping over Brillant Mors when he stumbled backwards in shock. Before them were two metal tubes with glass canopies. Within one of the tubes was a brown skinned woman with short brown hair and what looked to be burn patterns across her face. Jaune would have almost thought she was sleeping peacefully if it weren't for the fact that she was barely breathing. "Who is that?" he whispered in shock and horror.

It was Glynda who answered him. "That is the Fall Maiden, Amber. She is currently in a state of suspended animation. That tube is the only thing keeping her alive."

Jaune stepped forward and put his hand on the glass, directly over the heaviest part of the burn mark adorning her face. "What happened to her?"

"She was attacked," responded Nathaniel. "Agents of Salem ambushed her and overwhelmed her. Somehow one of them had the power to actively steal the power of the maiden from her while she was still living. Normally the power is only transferred when its current host dies, but when it's transferred the current possessor of the power must have a young woman, a maiden if you will, in her last thoughts. If she does not then the power would go to any young woman anywhere in Remnant. Salem's agents undoubtedly used this mystery process to ensure that the power would pass to who they wanted it to."

"Did it work?" Jaune asked.

"No," replied Ozpin. "One of my own agents, a man named Qrow who you will meet eventually, showed up in time to halt the process and chase off the attackers. Unfortunately he didn't get a look at their faces, but we know that two of the attackers were women, and the other a man. We estimate that our enemies were half way done with the process when they were interrupted. Had they completed it Amber would have undoubtedly died."

"Let me guess," muttered Jaune as he stared at Amber's marred face. "If she dies, the rest of her power will go to whoever did this to her."

"Precisely Mr. Arc, which is why we've kept her in a state of suspended animation until we find a suitable candidate to inherit the rest of her powers."

Jaune turned around at that. He met the calm and collected gaze of his headmaster. "Candidate? Didn't you say if she died the powers would go to whoever held the rest of them? How can you transfer the powers to someone else?"

Ozpin pointed his cane at the other metal tube. "With that."

Jaune looked at the other, empty tube. Now that he was paying more attention to the machines themselves there were a number of wires and tubes connecting both tubes. His eyes narrowed as he started to piece it together. "You found out a way to transfer a Maiden's power to whoever is in the other tube."

"Yes, and no," said Nathaniel. "The Maiden's powers are connected to Amber, to her very soul. We can't disconnect the Maiden's power from her soul."

Jaune's blood turned to ice as he finally realized what they were saying. He backed away from the tubes fearfully until Nathaniel's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Her aura," he whispered in horror, "you would transfer her aura, her _soul_ to someone else."

"Yes," the knight said solemnly.

Jaune spun around and faced three adults. "But, but that would kill her! Wouldn't it? Wasn't the whole point of putting her in here to save her life?"

"One way or the other she will die Mr. Arc," responded Glynda sadly. "If we removed her from the tube, she will die. If we leave her in there long enough she will die from her wounds eventually anyway. At least this way her death will not be in vain, and the remainder of the Maiden's powers will be inside a stable host. Whoever stole the Maiden's power would undoubtedly look for the new host, and when she found her that would give us an opportunity to obtain the remainder of the Maiden's powers from our enemies. This is the only option available to us right now."

Jaune wanted to argue, but they were right. If she was going to die anyway then it made sense to ensure that the power went to a woman they trusted. But then that would mean that they would have to have a candidate for the new Maiden. "Who is it?" Jaune asked. "Who have you picked as your new Maiden?"

"We haven't settled one anyone yet," responded Ozpin, "but we've been observing the most promising women from each academy. The one we choose must not only be a talented and gifted fighter. She must also be able to handle the power on an emotional and mental level. She must be able to control her newfound abilities and not allow it to consume her. There has been more than one instance of young women who became maidens going mad with power. In these dark times that cannot be allowed to happen."

Jaune turned to look at Amber again. He leaned on his halberd examining her face. A talented and gifted fighter who wouldn't let her newfound power change who she was. In that case it would have to be a woman who was humble and caring, who would always put the needs of others before herself...

The ice in Jaune's veins spread to his heart, clutching it with frozen talons.

 _"No. No no no not her. Anyone but her."_

Before Jaune even realized what it was he was doing he had spun around and grabbed Ozpin by his collar, yanking the taller man down to his level. Nathaniel shouted at Jaune to back down and Glydna raised her riding crop at him, a menacing purple glow surrounding her. Jaune barely even registered it. His focus was solely on Ozpin.

"It's alright Glynda," said the headmaster calmly, "He's simply worried for his friend. Let him get it out of his system."

"You can't!" Jaune snarled, "you can't pick her! Not Pyrrha! Anyone but Pyrrha!"

"I never said we would choose her Mr. Arc. We haven't made our choice yet. It could be any young lady in any of the academies."

"We both know it'll be her," Jaune spat. "You'll pick her because she's the smartest, the strongest, the kindest, and won't let the power get to her. In your mind she's the perfect candidate, but you _cannot_ pick her."

"Why is that Mr. Arc?"

"Because she won't want it, but we both know she'll take it!" snarled Jaune, "she won't want this power. All she's _ever_ wanted was to be normal, to fit in with the others and have friends who care about her for her. That's already hard enough for her. How much harder do you think having these powers will make that for her? Huh?! Did you even think about that you white haired _bastard_?!" Jaune shoved Ozpin away, his chest rising and falling in massive breaths as his heart worked over time. The ice in his veins and heart was gone, replaced by a raging inferno of anger.

Nathaniel cautiously stepped between Ozpin and Jaune. His own halberd was gripped in both hands, but was aimed upwards. "Jaune," he said calmly, "let go of Brillant Mors."

Jaune looked down and saw to his surprise that Brillant Mors was clutched in both hands, and pointed directly at Ozpin behind Nathaniel. A part of his mind told him to put down his weapon and calm down. The rest of him told to keep Brillant Mors right where it was. "Make me," he hissed at Nathaniel. The old man's eyes hardened with determination, and he began to lower his own halberd, but Ozpin's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Mr. Arc won't attack me Nathaniel, and even if he were to do so I am perfectly capable of defending myself. Step aside, and let me talk to him." With clear hesitation Nathaniel stepped to the side, but kept his halberd at the ready. "Mr. Arc," said Ozpin gently, "please lower your weapon. You are among friends here. I know you are concerned for your partner, and I do understand, but this accomplishes nothing."

As the red fog in Jaune's mind cleared his grip on Brillant Mors loosened until the weapon slipped out of nerveless fingers and fell to the floor. His whole body felt heavier than normal, like it often did whenever he thought of the task that had been set before him. "I just want to keep them safe," he whispered as he stared despondently at the floor. "I just want to protect my friends and family. That's why I accepted the task of becoming the Knight-Lord. That's why I've kept Salem a secret from my friends. I just want them to go through Beacon happy and healthy and not worry about the future. I don't want them to stay awake at night, thinking about the coming storm like I do." He looked up and met Ozpin's eyes, "this will drag Pyrrha right into the middle of it. She'll never be normal. She'll have to worry about people targeting her, trying to take the Maiden's powers for her whole life. She won't be able to settle down and have a family, she won't be a normal huntress."

To everyone's surprise it was Glynda who stepped forward and placed her hand on Jaune shoulder. "Your concern for your friends is beyond admirable Jaune; it is a mark of a true leader, but this is a war. Right now our enemy holds the upper hand, and we need every advantage we can get. That includes the Maidens. As Ozpin said we haven't made our decision on who it will be, but Pyrrha is one of our top candidates. I know you want to keep them safe and ignorant of what goes on behind these closed doors, but it may be necessary that Pyrrha must be given the choice, no matter how much we don't like it."

Jaune's breathing evened out. He bent down to pick up Brillant Mors and leaned against the ancient weapon, using it to support himself. "It has to be a woman?" he asked.

"We believe so," said Ozpin. "In the traditional process the power was always passed onto a young woman. Theoretically it may be possible that we could transfer it to a man with these machines, however I would rather not risk it unless we have absolutely no other option. As it stands there is already a large amount of uncertainty on whether or not the process would work at all. Adding a man into the mixture would only throw in another unknown variable."

Jaune nodded. That made sense. "Then I guess I don't have a choice."

Ozpin's eyebrow raised in interest, "I'm sorry?"

The blonde boy straightened up, his halberd clenched firmly in both hands as he planted it firmly against the ground before him. "I'll throw everything I have into my training with Nathaniel. I _will_ become the Knight-Lord, I _will_ resurrect the Order of Light, I _will_ be Vaya's champion, and when Salem rises, I _will_ be ready. When she marches out of the Grimm lands with her horde she'll find that Vaya's champion will be standing against her at the head of an army of Gryphon Knights. I _will_ fight her, I _will_ kill her, and we will never needs the Maidens. Pyrrha will have a normal life. All of my friends will."

The three teachers stared at Jaune in silence, and then Ozpin began to laugh. It was not a mocking or insulting laugh. It was a laugh of true joy. With real mirth in his eyes Ozpin smiled at Jaune and lifted his mug in a toast to the young knight before him. "Mr. Arc, in all my years as headmaster of this school you are the first student who has ever managed to surprise me. I believe you can do what you have just set forth to do Jaune. Indeed, I believe you are the only one who can. No other man is strong enough, no other soul is indomitable enough, to accomplish that task, but _you are_. I have long since put my hope in small, simple souls, you are not one of those. You are a great soul, one filled with passion and ambition to safeguard those you love from all evils of the world."

Ozpin downed the last of the coffee in his mug, and smiled at Jaune. "Now go and see your friends Mr. Arc. Starting tomorrow you will not be Huntsman in training Jaune Arc. You will be Knight-Lord in training Jaune Arc, and I suspect those two men are very different beasts."

* * *

 **And thus Jaune's involvement in the secret war for Remnant grows, as does his determination to defend his loved ones. I do hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and were okay with the things I changed, such as team JNPR being involved in the search for Blake and subsequent fight (and that little fourth wall break afterwards), and were okay with how I made the changes. I also hope you're okay with Jaune's rage breaking when he realized they wanted Pyrrha as the new Maiden. I feel like had he known about the whole situation before her his reaction would have been something like this as he desperately tried to protect his friend.**

 **As always please follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction then please request this story to them. If you have a question, suggestion, complaint, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me!**

 **I love you all. BBBYYYYEEEEEEE!**


	6. Chapter 6

**WOOOOOOO FRIGGIN HOOOOOOOO! WE DID IT! WE BROKE 100 FOLLOWERS!**

 **Ahem. Well I am sorry for my outburst (I'm so not sorry) I am seriously overjoyed that this story has, in just five chapters, gotten over 100 follows. That means a lot to me, and I can only hope that that number continues to grow as the story continues. Thank you to everyone who posted a review on the last chapter, especially gdvp111 (hope I got that right) who gave me some good ideas for the story going forward.**

 **In this chapter we shall be beginning the events of volume 2. By this point Jaune has been training under Nathaniel for a couple weeks now, so this is where we're going to see some real change in Jaune's character, fighting prowess, and skills with da ladies (kidding... or am I? :3).**

 **With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

The spearhead of Brillant Mors drove through the open mouth of the Beowulf, killing it. Jaune wrenched his weapon free and spun to face his new foe, an Ursa. The titanic Grimm roared at him and slammed its fore paws on the forest floor with enough force to shake the ground. Jaune pushed his sweaty blonde hair back and sighed irritably. "Come on then," he said, "you're the last thing standing between me and going back to Beacon, so lets hurry this up." As though in answer the beast roared at him and charged forward on all fours. Jaune planted his feet firmly and leveled his halberd at the beast, knowing from experience that a juvenile Ursa would simply impale itself on his weapon. This one was no exception. The spearhead pierced its chest just a couple inches to the left of its heart. Despite the undeniably fatal blow the Grimm still attempted to drive itself forward, succeeding only in driving the spearhead deeper into its chest. It swung its fore paws at his face with savage intensity, the murderous claws cutting the air inches before his face. Jaune shoved his halberd forward and sent the Grimm stumbling backwards. He wrenched Brillant Mors back, pulling the weapon free of the Grimm's chest. The beast roared in pain as the blade left its flesh, and stumbled forward with its paws outstretched towards the young knight in training. Jaune simply stepped to the side as the beast finally expired and fell flat on its face where he had stood. He slung Brillant Mors over his back by the leather strap he'd gotten attached to it a week ago and turned to look at Nathaniel, who was leaning against his halberd contentedly. "So how did I do?" he asked his mentor.

Nathaniel scratched his chin under his beard. "Better," said the older man simply, "two weeks ago three Ursa and a pack of Beowulves would have been far beyond you. Now you were able to handle them with little difficulty. However your situational awareness still needs work." Jaune winced at that. One of the Beowulves had jumped him from the side while he had been distracted by two others. The Grimm tried to bite through his arm, but had broken its teeth on Jaune's new vambrace. Not for the first time Jaune had been grateful for the additional pieces of armor Nathaniel had forged for him. It wasn't much, just vambraces, greaves, and tassets that were attached to his belt, but as Jaune had come to learn Beowulves liked to target arms and legs. Even had he not been wearing his vambraces the Beowulf's teeth would have still been stopped by his aura, but it would have hurt a lot more, and been much more of a distraction, which would have allowed the other two Beowulves to attack him while he was attempting to free his arm.

"But as I said it's a definite improvement," commented Nathaniel as he stood straight and walked towards Jaune. "As I suspected your skills have improved dramatically these past two weeks. You've become stronger, faster, you can process a situation better, and your mounted combat has improved too." He slapped his hand down on Jaune's significantly broader shoulder appreciatively. "I told you these weekend excursions to the Emerald Forest were worth it. Learning from me in the safety of Beacon is all well and good for your academic lessons and sparring with me, but there's no better teacher than roughing it for a couple days in enemy territory with nothing but your gear and whatever food you brought and manage to forage up." He glanced up at the sky as a winged shadow passed overhead. "Though I will admit that having a Gryphon around does make it easier to find fresh meat."

Jaune looked up as Talon swooped down into the clearing, sparing a contemptuous glance for the rapidly fading Grimm bodies. _"I assume its time for us to head back to Beacon then?"_ questioned the war beast. _"I enjoy killing Grimm, but I won't deny that I'm ready to begin enjoying my one day off."_

Immediately after the meeting with Ozpin where Jaune had learned of Amber's presence under the school Ozpin had pulled Jaune out of all his normal classes, barring combat class. The other members of team JNPR had been furious with Nathaniel, as Jaune had known they would be. He'd had to physically restrain Nora from taking up Magnhild and marching out of JNPR's dorm to attempt to break Nathaniel's legs. At first they had thought that pulling Jaune from his classes was something that Ozpin and Nathaniel had done without asking him, but Jaune had been quick to explain that they had asked him, and had only gone through with it when he had said he had wanted to go through with it.

Their reaction to that had been... less than pleasant. Ren, ever the stoic one, had taken the information with a nod, but Jaune had seen the disappointment in his eyes. Nora had looked like she had been about to burst into tears, which had nearly broken Jaune's heart, but the one that had hit him the hardest had been Pyrrha's reaction. She had simply stared at him and replied with, "I see." Pyrrha had never been one to burst out in anger, but that silent acceptance had been ten times worse than her shouting at him ever could have been. He had told them that it hadn't been an easy choice, nor had it been one he'd made quickly. He had wanted to stay in their normal classes with them, but this was something he needed to do. He had told them it was his duty to be trained as a knight so he could one day resurrect the Order of Light. That had seemed to help somewhat. They were hunstmen in training after all. Duty was not a foreign concept to them.

Nathaniel had also understood that while Jaune was no longer training to be a huntsman, he was still JNPR's leader. He had arranged Jaune's schedule to ensure that Jaune was able to sit with his teammates at every mealtime, and he still slept in JNPR's dorm when he was at Beacon. During the first year combat classes he sat with his teammates and cheered them on when they fought. Whatever underlying tension that had remained after his explanation had slowly dissipated as he spent all of his free time with his teammates.

Jaune stretched and scratched Talon's neck. "I'm ready to go back too." He turned to Nathaniel, "so we can all head back to Beacon now?"

Nathaniel smiled and nodded. "Yes Jaune. We can go back, and you can go see your friends today. Just remember that our schedule starts over again tomorrow."

Jaune rolled his eyes at the reminder, but nodded. "I remember. On Monday I clean and maintain both of our weapons and armor, and check the straps on Talon's saddle, then we go to the forge so I can practice my metal working. Then Tuesday through Thursday consists of morning workout, breakfast, history lessons, strategic simulations, combat classes, lunch, sparring, afternoon workout, more history lessons, dinner, then flying with Talon to end the day. Friday and Saturday we come here to the Emerald forest with nothing but whatever we're wearing, our weapons, a small bag of supplies, and our wits."

 _"And your Gryphon."_

Jaune shook his head, but was smiling. "And my Gryphon. Then on Sunday we go back to Beacon and I get to spend the entire day with my team. This is the second time we've been through the whole routine you know. I've memorized the list."

"Watch your mouth boy," said Nathaniel seriously, but with that glint in his eye that Jaune knew meant he was joking. Mostly. "Just because you've remembered it doesn't mean it's become habit yet. You'll have to go through a couple more weeks before its the normal routine for you."

"Yes sir," Jaune said as he strapped the saddle onto Talon. "You know I've always meant to ask, but why can't women be knights of the Order?"

Nathaniel shrugged as he did a last minute check of their campgrounds to ensure they weren't leaving anything behind. "It's a bit of a long story. You sure you want to hear it now?"

Jaune glanced at the sky. It was still early morning, so it was reasonable to assume that RWBY and the other members of JNPR weren't even up yet. He had time. "Sure, why not?" He undid the few straps he had fastened on the saddle and sat it on the ground next to the Gryphon. Nathaniel sat down, and Jaune sat across from him, leaning against Talon as the war beast preened itself.

"Well you know the story of your ancestor Cailan, and how he formed the Order. While even back then female warriors were a common sight Vaya instructed that only men could be knights of the Order. Her reasons for this however go even further back. Do you remember what I told you about the genesis of humanity?"

Jaune nodded. "Salem created Remnant and used to rule over it. The entire world was shrouded in darkness, and the only living things on the planet were the Grimm. However Vaya saw Remnant as somewhere life could thrive if it was given light and a chance to do so. So she created the sun, and its light burned away the darkness. Vaya poured life into the barren soil of the world and planted the first trees and plants. She then put animals on the land, in the water, and in the sky. She then made humans in her image: the first women. Back then women were faster and more agile than any other creature, but their physical strength was lacking. Salem of course was angered at Vaya for bringing life and light to Remnant, and sent her Grimm after Vaya's favored creation: women. Vaya taught women how to create weapons to defend themselves and women battled against the Grimm. Though women were faster and more agile than the Grimm the creatures of Salem were too numerous, and speed alone wasn't enough for women to prevail. Seeing that her favored creations were losing badly against the Grimm Vaya decided that a new creation had to be made, and she created the first men. Men were not as fast or agile as women, but they were larger, stronger, and braver than any of her previous creations. Men marched against the Grimm and battled them in open combat while women struck the Grimm in lightning quick but devastating ambushes and flanking attacks. Eventually the Grimm were pushed back, and men and women knew peace. The two genders mingled and had children, and the Grimm were nearly forgotten as a threat until they returned in force."

Nathaniel smiled and nodded. "Exactly. As time passed and men and women had children together both genders slowly began to 'blend together' in a sense. While for the most part women were faster than men, and men were stronger than women, some men were born faster, like women, and some women were born stronger, like men. Take your friends Nora and Ren for example. Despite the fact she's a woman Nora is very much a strength fighter, and a very effective one at that. Ren meanwhile is a speed fighter, and relies on agility and quick reflexes to dodge around his enemy's attacks and strike them where they're weak. However in the modern world the differences in strength and speed between the genders are far less prevalent. Both men and women are a mere shadow of what they once were, and technology has improved to make up for this."

Jaune frowned, "but that doesn't explain why only men can be knights."

Nathaniel's eyebrow raised. "Doesn't it? Think about how we fight Jaune, how we're trained to take on our enemies."

Jaune nodded in understanding as he started to put the pieces together. "The Gryphon Knights take their enemies head on, charging into them with full force and staying in the fight until their opponents have fallen before them."

"Exactly! And that's how Vaya has always meant for men to fight. It's a return to our roots, to the core of who men originally _were_ _._ That's not to say your friend Ren is any less a man for the way he fights, or that Nora is any less a woman for the way she fights. It's simply how men fought originally, and when you think about it its how most men fight today. Look at the four kingdom's militaries. For the most part they consist of men who fight in formation against the Grimm, using strength and brute force to crush their enemies." Nathaniel shrugged, "so that's why. Vaya mandated that only men could be knights of the order as it has traditionally been the man's duty to engage his foes in open combat. Would that be considered sexist in the modern world? Maybe, but as I said, it's not because women can't fight. It's simply because Vaya has demanded that only men be Gryphon Knights."

Jaune nodded in understanding. That made sense to him, and he knew all too well that women were just as capable fighters as men. When he thought about it some of the most terrifying people he knew were women, including his mother, and she wasn't even a huntress. "Do you think there was ever a female version of the order?" asked Jaune. "I mean it would make sense that after the fall of the order Vaya would form an order of women who would fight the way women were originally meant to."

Nathaniel shrugged. "Honestly I would be surprised if there wasn't, especially since women were the first humans." the knight looked up the sky, checking the position of the sun. "If we leave now your friends should be at breakfast by the time we get back to Beacon. Are you ready, or do you have anything else you'd like to know?"

Jaune shook his head and stood up. "Nothing right now. I'm ready to get back to Beacon."

* * *

Pyrrha picked at the food on her plate, not feeling hungry. Today was Sunday, which meant Jaune should be back from the Emerald forest soon, but Nathaniel had forbidden Jaune from taking his scroll with him into the forest. Until he got back Pyrrha had no way of knowing if he was okay. What if he had gotten hurt? What if they had all gotten hurt and they were stranded in the middle of the Emerald forest, with Grimm all around them? What if-

The champion's morbid train of thought was interrupted by a finger poking her nose. She blinked in surprise and looked to her side. Nora was staring at her knowingly. She poked the red head's nose again. "He's fine Pyrrha. He's got Nathaniel with him, and while none of us like the old man we know he wouldn't let a Grimm take a chunk out of our fearless leader. On top of that Jaune has Mr. Fluffykins with him, and you know he won't let anything bad happen to Jaune."

"Who?" asked a bewildered Pyrrha.

Nora leaned in close to her teammate and whispered, "that's my secret name for Talon, but don't tell him." The ginger sat back and took a bite out of the massive stack of pancakes in front of her. "On top of that Jaune's gotten a lot better these past couple of weeks. We haven't seen him fight in combat class yet, but I bet he could beat a lot of the other first years."

Nora was right. Jaune had changed over the past two weeks. His skills had improved more than seemed possible for just two weeks of training. He had put on muscle too, and while he wasn't as built as many of the other male students he was getting there. Though he hadn't just changed physically. He had become more serious and confident in himself. Gone was the bumbling klutz that was prone to smiling at the slightest provocation. Now he laughed far less than he used too, and was more prone to silently listen in on the conversations between JNPR and RWBY at mealtimes, only adding to the conversation every now and then, or telling Nora to stop trying to hit Cardin with a pie. Pyrrha didn't know what to think of it. While this new Jaune attracted her in a way that was different to how she had been attracted to the old Jaune, she didn't like seeing him so serious all the time. She missed the smile that she could goad out of him with a few kind words.

"I know," sighed Pyrrha as she took a bite out of her fruit salad, "but I don't feel good knowing he's out there without us. Besides he _is_ our leader. He needs to be training with us if we're going to be competing in the Vytal festival."

"I'm sure Jaune can talk to Nathaniel," said Ren from the other side of Nora. "The festival would be a good opportunity to help spread the word about the Gryphon Knights. Jaune could use that argument to convince Nathaniel to release him to train with us."

Yang, who had just caught a grape that Nora had launched at her, grinned at Pyrrha mischievously, "and maybe you can convince him to let Jaune go free for the dance."

Pyrrha blushed, "I don't want to ask him and have him say no. That would just make things awkward in the team if he knew how I felt. I'd rather wait and let him ask who he wants to. Who knows? Maybe he will ask me."

Yang caught another grape and popped it in her mouth, swallowing the fruit whole. "I think we all know who he's going to ask," said the blonde as she pointed a thumb at Weiss, who scowled and crossed her arms.

"Please ask him," said the heiress to Pyrrha, "you can have him if you want him."

The grin on Yang's face grew as she tossed a sidelong glance at her little sister, who was listening to their conversation intently. "Though who knows Weiss cream? Maybe he won't ask you. Maybe he'd rather take a Rose to the- ACK!"

Yang's sentence came to an abrupt halt as Ruby wrapped her arms around Yang's neck, cutting off her sister's words and air supply. "Nothing!" squealed the little leader of RWBY as she held on for dear life as Yang tried to pry her off. "Nothing at all!"

Despite her worry for Jaune Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the sisters. The little leader of RWBY wasn't as subtle as she thought she was. Pyrrha was aware of Ruby's feelings for Jaune, but she was also aware that Ruby had never acted on those feelings, or tried to come between her and Jaune. Honestly if Jaune did ask Ruby to the dance Pyrrha wouldn't mind as much as she would if he asked someone else, such as Weiss, or one of the many fan girls he had recently accrued. At least the younger girl actually understood what it was that Pyrrha saw in him, and liked the blonde boy for who he was rather than his newfound fame.

Ruby finally released her sister's throat and the blonde girl rubbed her throat. "Geez, a bit much don't you think sis? All I was going to say was-" she was cut off yet again as a grape bounced off her nose, courtesy of Nora. The blonde bombshell growled and rubbed her nose.

Pyrrha laughed as Yang and Nora got into a small food fight, flicking grapes at one another. The others members of both teams watched the fight with amusement until Ruby gasped and leaped up from her seat. She waved her arms frantically, jumping up and down. "Jaune! Over here!"

Pyrrha's eyes widened in shock and happiness as she turned towards the doorway. Sure enough there stood the object of her affections. During the past two weeks his clothes had grown too tight due to his additional muscle, and he and Nathaniel had gone out and bought him some new clothes to wear. It wasn't a large change in attire, but combined with his increased bulk it was a noticeable one. He had switched the hoodie for a black sleeveless shirt that showed off his arms under the spaulders and vambraces, and his sneakers had been swapped out for a pair of brown combat boots. Pyrrha could say with complete honesty that she appreciated the change, especially with his choice of shirts. Nora leapt up and ran over to their team leader, Ren calmly following her. Pyrrha stood up to follow them, but an arm reached out and grabbed hers. She turned to see that Yang had been the one to grab her. In her other arm she had Ruby firmly trapped in a headlock. "Remember what I said when we first met Talon you two," Yang said while grinning maliciously. "Give him little hints, and see how he reacts."

"Don't like him," grunted Ruby as she attempted in vain to free herself.

"Suuuuure," Yang said as she winked at Pyrrha and mouthed, _"you know, don't you?"_

Pyrrha nodded and smiled, indicating that she did, and that she didn't mind Ruby's feelings for Jaune. Yang nodded back and finally released Ruby's neck, who fell to the ground, and Pyrrha's arm. "Now go get him you two love birds."

"Don't like him," groaned Ruby from her position on the floor.

Pyrrha smiled and walked towards her teammates. Nora was currently clinging to Jaune's arm, which for Nora meant wrapping both her arms and legs around his arm in an impressive display of flexibility as Jaune and Ren frantically tried to pry her off before the blonde tipped over and fell. They managed to pry her off just as Pyrrha reached the three of them, and wrapped her arms around Jaune's torso. Normally Pyrrha wasn't the one for hugs, as that was more Nora's field of expertise, but Yang had said to give him little hints... who's to say she couldn't just give him a friendly hug that lasted a bit _too_ long? To her surprise and complete elation Jaune wrapped both muscular arms around her waist, returning the hug. She leaned back a bit and smiled up at him, her face red. "How was the forest this weekend?"

He smiled back, which was enough to make her already rapidly beating heart hammer in her chest. "It was good, though I'm glad to be back here with you guys." He frowned at her and cocked his head to one side as his arms left her waist. "You okay Pyrrha? You look really red. You aren't coming down with something are you?"

Her arms unwound from around his torso. "I'm fine," she said sweetly. He accepted her response with a shrug and waved to Ruby, who had gotten up from the floor and had continued waving to him, and made his way over to the table where the two teams were sitting with Ren and Nora close behind him. "Nothing," sighed Pyrrha, "absolutely no reaction." Shoulders slumped she walked after her teammates, noticing just how many people were calling or waving to Jaune as he walked by their tables, especially the female students. More than a few winked at him, or even blew kisses at him as he passed, and smirked victoriously at Pyrrha as she walked past them.

Jaune for his part didn't really react to the increased female attention he was receiving, only waving or smiling in return. The old Jaune of just a few weeks ago would have turned turned beet red and tripped over his own two feet if a girl had so much as looked at him, but now he took it all in stride, hardly even reacting. "Hey Ruby, Yang, Blake," he said when he reached the table. He winked at Weiss, "hey Snow Angel. Miss me?"

Weiss crossed her arms and huffed as she turned away from him, but even Pyrrha could tell her cheeks were a bit pink. "Hmph. As if Arc."

Jaune grinned charmingly and leaned a little closer. "What's this? No dunce today? And is that a blush I see? I knew I'd get through that cold exterior eventually."

Weiss's cheeks turned even pinker as she pointed at Jaune. "I will freeze you to that spot you dunce!" she threatened.

Jaune laughed as he sat down. "That's why you're my Snow Angel. Cold on the outside, but deep down you do care."

Weiss's mouth opened and closed repeatedly as she stared uncomprehendingly at the boy. "I hate you Arc," she growled.

He smiled at her, "are you sure? Because I found something in the emerald forest this weekend that might make you change your mind."

"So! Ruby!" Pyrrha all but shouted in an attempt to derail the conversation. She did _not_ like that pink tinge on the heiress's cheeks, "What are you doing today?"

Ruby grinned, probably just as glad as Pyrrha glad that Jaune had been interrupted. "I'm glad you asked Pyrrha!" The small girl stood up and picked up a _massive_ binder from off of the bench next to her. She dropped it on the table with enough force to make the solid oak tremble. "Sister! Friends! Weiss."

"Hey!"

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

"This oughta be good," muttered Yang to Blake, then caught another grape launched by Nora.

"A dream that the eight of us would come together, as teams, and have the most fun anyone has had... ever!"

"Did you steal my binder?" Accused Weiss.

"I am not a crook." Replied Ruby defensively.

"What are you talking about?" asked Blake.

"I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!"

"I like to kick my semesters off with a _Y_ _ang_!"

Everyone at the table groaned in pain at the pun. Nora tossed an apple at the blonde girl, who growled in response.

"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks, even with Jaune having to train separately, and with more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year our second semester is going to be great, but classes start back up tomorrow, and this is the last time for awhile that we're all going to be totally free to be together. Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today!"

"I don't know whether to be proud, or scared of what you have in store," replied Weiss as Yang stood up and launched another apple at Nora, which missed.

"I don't know," muttered Blake, who looked rather tired to Pyrrha, "I... I think I might sit this one out."

"Sit out or not, I think we should spend this last day as a _team_ ," said Weiss as she shot a pointed glare at Jaune.

Right as a pie hit her in the face.

Jaune groaned and unslung Brillant Mors from around his back, placing it under the table where he prayed it would be safe. "Here we go," he sighed.

* * *

Neptune laughed at Sun continued his story. "Man, that's harsh."

"And then we were fighting side by side!" exclaimed Sun as he informed his best friend about the events that had transpired before the blue haired boy's arrival in Vale, "and she's super fast and I threw a banana at a guy, which sounds gross but it was awesome!"

"Nice," said Neptune appreciatively.

"Right?! And the best part is she's a faunus!" The monkey faunus's hand flew to his mouth as he realized his mistake. "But that's a secret okay?"

"Got it."

"And not a 'I'm gonna tell Scarlet as soon as Sun turns his back secret'. I'm talking secret _secret_."

"Whoa chill out man, okay?" replied Neptune, "I got it."

"You better," warned Sun, "I just don't wanna screw this up, ya know?" So engrossed were the two boys in their conversation that they missed the multiple pieces of fruit that hit the windows of the cafeteria and the sight of Jaune getting knocked to the window by Yang, where he twisted and mid air and pushed off the glass with his feet, instead of flying face first into the pane like he originally would have. "The people here are the coolest. No offense to you guys."

"None taken."

"I even met that Jaune Arc guy. You know, the one with the big cat bird thing called a Gryphon?"

"No way, really? What was he like?"

"Well we never really talked, but he seemed really chill and in command you know? Like even when Blake showed him and his teammates that she was a faunus he didn't even seem fazed, like he knew all along. Even though I know he didn't know cause Blake didn't tell anyone at Beacon before she told me."

"He does sound pretty cool," agreed Neptune.

"Okay they're just in here." The two boys stopped outside the doors to the cafeteria. "I'm really excited for you to meet them, so be cool okay? You're gonna be cool right?"

Neptune crossed his arms and grinned at Sun, the sunlight making his teeth sparkle. "Dude."

Sun nodded. "Good point."

The two boys pushed opened the doors to the cafeteria, and beheld the horror within.

* * *

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at his ginger teammate's antics as she stood atop her "castle": A bunch of tables stacked haphazardly on top of one another.

He cracked his knuckles as Ruby slammed her foot down on a table on the opposite end of the cafeteria. She pointed at the evil queen Nora. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be DELICIOUS!"

The other three girls of team RWBY cheered along with their leader as the two teams engaged one another in battle. "Off with their heads!" ordered Nora. Ren kicked three watermelons into the air, and then kicked them at RWBY. Jaune grabbed a watermelon and flung it as hard as he could, then swiftly followed it with two more. Pyrrha grabbed two watermelons and flung them into the air towards their opposing team. Nora meanwhile grabbed the lip of a table stacked with watermelons and flung both the table and the fruit upon it at their enemies.

"Yang! Turkey!" ordered Ruby. Jaune frowned in confusion. Turkey?

He got his answer when Yang sank her hands into two turkeys, and slammed them together hard enough to create a shock wave. Jaune's jaw dropped in amazement. "How?" Yang sprinted forward and began punching the watermelons to pieces, each strike sending pieces of the fruit everywhere. "How?!" shouted a bewildered Jaune. Blake leaped over her partner and grabbed two bread sticks and used them to smash apart two watermelons. Yang used Blake as a springboard and leaped over her partner, kicking another watermelon out of existence. She _launched_ the turkeys at Jaune, who ducked under one and caught the other in both hands. He stared at the cooked fowl in utter shock and confusion. "What is our food _made of_?" he asked in befuddlement. His question would go unanswered, as he barely managed to duck a blow from Yang. He dropped the turkey and jumped back further, putting distance between himself and his fellow blonde. "Alright... I need a weapon," he muttered as he scanned the battleground. Pyrrha was taking on Ruby, who was doing a surprisingly good job of keeping the champion at bay. Nora was wielding a melon stuck on the end of a flag pole as she battled Weiss, who was using condiments such as ketchup and mustard, along with a _swordfish_ off all things as a melee weapon. Blake and Ren were darting around all over the place, using leeks and bread sticks as their weapons of choice. Yang had reequipped her turkey gauntlets, and was smirking confidently at Jaune as she waited for him to choose a weapon. Finally his eyes landed on something he could use. It was a piece of french bread that was so long it was _obscene._ If Jaune hadn't desperately needed the unreasonably long french bread he would have spent more time wondering who on Remnant needed a piece of bread over six feet long. He scooped up his bread halberd, which he had dubbed Bread Mors, and held it up, daring Yang to step within reach of his new wheat based weapon.

Yang dared.

She flung herself towards Jaune who jumped back and thrust his weapon at her, forcing her to jump back also. Knowing that going on the defensive against Yang was the worst possible option Jaune stepped forward and thrust his weapon at Yang again, forcing her back again. Twice more he forced her back with a jab at her before the brawler leaped forward, slipping around the business end of Bread Mors and into Jaune's guard. Jaune ducked under the fist Yang sent flying at his face and spun, striking her in the back with his bread halberd.

Breadberd?

Halbread?

 _"Questions for later,"_ he decided as he swung Bread Mors at Yang again, making the most of Yang's momentary surprise at his quick dodge. The blow landed, this time hitting her in the face, before Yang blocked brought up a turkey gauntlet and deflected his follow up attack. Quicker than last time she darted into Jaune's guard and slammed her other turkey gauntlet into his stomach. The knight in training doubled over with a gasp as the air was driven out of his lungs. Yang's other fist came up and slammed into his face, sending him flying backwards into the air. Jaune didn't know how long he was suspended in mid air before he hit the ground, groaning and thinking that turkey should _not_ hurt that much. His eyes widened in shock and fear when he saw Yang leap into the air, one turkey gauntlet pulled back to finish him with one blow. As she seemed to fall towards him in slow motion she smiled and winked at Jaune.

Ignoring what that wink had done to his male hormones Jaune quickly pushed himself to his feet and raised Bread Mors directly at the falling Yang, who was unable to change her direction in mid air. Smirking confidently Jaune winked back at the blonde bombshell as she landed stomach first on the unreasonably long bread stick. The air was driven out of her lungs by the impact, and Jaune swung Bread Mors downwards, flinging Yang off the end of his weapon and into a pile of tables. Yang pushed herself to her feet and grinned at Jaune. "Not bad Vomit boy. You really have improved under my soon to be boyfriend."

Jaune laughed, "thanks Yang, but you may not want to let Mrs. Goodwitch hear that."

Yang frowned in confusion and opened her mouth to ask what he meant. At least that's what Jaune assumed she was going to ask, but instead her eyes widened in surprise and she shouted, "duck!"

Resisting the urge to point out that the things on Yang's fist were in fact turkeys Jaune ducked down as something sped over his head. He turned to follow the thing's trajectory, only realizing it was Weiss when it stopped by slamming into a stone pillar. "No!" shouted Ruby as she darted forward with her semblance and grabbed Weiss, pulling her out of the way of the falling stone pillar. The young leader of RWBY held her partner in both arms. "Weiss! Weiss speak to me! NNOOOOOOOOO!" The pillar collapsed behind Ruby, making for what would have been an emotionally powerful scene were it not for the food scattered about the place and the swordfish clutched in Weiss's hand.

Jaune turned back to Yang, who had been watching the scene unravel with just as much interest as Jaune. "She does know that Weiss is fine, right?" asked Jaune.

Yang shrugged. "Probably. She gets caught up in the moment a lot."

"HEADS UP GOLDILOCKS!" shouted a familiar voice. Both Jaune and Yang turned towards its source just in time to see Nora smack Yang with her melon hammer hard enough to send the blonde brawler to the roof.

And then through it.

Jaune stared, completely flabbergasted, as Yang flew off into the sky. As someone who flew regularly Jaune was getting fairly adept at judging just how high in the sky something was.

Yang had just cleared three hundred feet when a soda can went flying past his face, grabbing his attention. He watched as Pyrrha pelted Blake with soda cans, which exploded into colorful clouds as they burst open on impact. The champion launched a column of metal cans at Blake and knocked her into the wall, putting her out of the fight.

The only member of Team RWBY left standing was Ruby herself. Jaune leveled Bread Mors, grinning victoriously. She was unbelievably fast and a good fighter, but in a four on one battle team JNPR had the upper hand.

And then Ruby proved him dead wrong by running directly at them, and bringing _everything_ with her.

The sheer speed she ran at created a vortex behind her, sucking up everything in its path as it followed the little reaper. Jaune gulped and held up his now useless halbread. "Protect me bread," he whimpered.

Ruby shot past them and JNPR uselessly tried to turn and run as they were sucked up into the vortex. Ruby skidded to a halt, the stone wall behind her _shattering_ with the force of the shock wave. Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were slammed into the cracked wall and the leader of JNPR had just enough time to look at the impending doom of food flying directly at them and think one thing.

 _"This is going to hurt so much."_

Soda cans, turkeys, fruit, and other various and sundry edible goods pounded JNPR with relentless ferocity. Just when Jaune thought the barrage would never end it finally did.

Groaning in pain the four members of JNPR peeled off of the wall and collapsed on the floor.

 _"I was right. That hurt so much."_

Jaune pushed himself to his feet and gave himself and his teammates a quick once over. Not surprisingly they were all completely covered in food, but it was beginning to slide off of them. "And I had just gotten a shower too," sighed Jaune. As he tried to brush a piece of melon off of his left vambrace Jaune noticed Brillant Mors laying on the ground before him. Assuming that it must have been caught up in the vortex and thankful that it hadn't hit anyone Jaune picked it up and slung it over his back. Blake and Weiss stood up from where they had fallen and walked over to where Ruby and JNPR were. Jaune happened to glance at the door to the cafeteria and saw the monkey faunus, Sun if he remembered correctly, and some guy who looked like he had been caught in the crossfire, if the grape soda covering him was any indicator. He heard Sun say something to his friend about "loving these guys". Judging by the look on the face of Sun's grape soda covered friend Jaune was pretty sure the monkey faunus was the only one of the two who felt that sentiment.

The doors to the cafeteria flew open, and Jaune's heart nearly stopped when Glynda _friggin_ Goodwitch stormed in with a face full of fury. Behind her came Nathaniel, who's own face expressed only mild interest in the carnage around the room. That made Jaune go pale. Nathaniel only had that face on when he was thinking of the best way to punish you when you had messed up. With a flick of her riding crop Glynda repaired the shattered cafeteria and furniture, and made the remaining food go... somewhere. Jaune hadn't actually seen what happened to the food. He had been too busy dreading all of the laps he would have to run around the circumference of the school. In full gear. Plate armor, halberd, and all. "Children, please do not play with your food," Glynda said through gritted teeth.

As Jaune was trying to think of an adequate apology something occurred to him. He looked around the room, but was unable to find his fellow blonde. "Where's Yang? Is she still in the air?"

His question was answered when Yang fell through the roof and on top of a table, shattering it. "Anyone get the number of the bullhead that hit me?" she groaned.

Despite the fact that the pun was one of her worst yet, the members of RWBY and the other three members of JNPR began to laugh uproariously. Jaune smiled at his friends, deciding to take this moment of peace before he was ran to death. It was then as his friends were distracted by laughing that he heard a new but familiar voice.

"Let it go," Ozpin said calmly to Glynda and Nathaniel.

Glynda sighed. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

"And Jaune's supposed to be the next Knight-Lord."

Ozpin smiled, "and they will be, but right now they're still children, even Jaune. So why not let them play the part?"

The headmaster turned and walked away. "After all," he said solemnly, "It won't be a role they'll have forever."

* * *

As Cinder walked away from the warehouse that Roman was set up in she pondered her next move. The next part of the plan was for her to infiltrate Beacon as a student. Originally the plan had been for her to keep her head down, try to gain information on the Fall Maiden's whereabouts, and wait for the dance so she could strike at the CCTS tower. However, a new factor had modified the plan somewhat.

The Gryphon Knights, one of them at least, still lived, and he was training young Jaune Arc to be the next Knight-Lord.

The news of the Gryphon and its rider had traveled fast over Remnant. Most everyone who wasn't living under a rock knew the names Jaune Arc and Talon by now. Even if the boy didn't realize it he was for all intents and purposes a celebrity now. Of course Cinder's mistress Salem knew, and she was _furious._ She had thought the Gryphon Knights slain to the last man, but one still lived, and so did a Gryphon. And it wasn't just any Gryphon. It was _the_ Gryphon, the first Gryphon. Ridden by Cailan Arc ten thousand years ago he was now ridden by Jaune Arc, the Knight-Lord's descendant.

Salem had been clear in her wishes for the fate of the boy. He was to be killed at the first possible moment Cinder could get him alone. She smiled viciously. Getting the boy alone wouldn't be a problem, not with a body like hers. A few kind words, a touch here and there, and he would be putty in her hands. She could convince him to go off with her to some abandoned corner of the school grounds and kill him then and there. However she _had_ to ensure that no one saw her, or that all witnesses were dealt with. If word got out that it had been Cinder who killed him then she would never be able to plant the virus in the CCTS tower, or find the Fall Maiden. Both tasks had to be completed to hasten the return of her mistress.

Salem was tired of waiting. Remnant had once been hers, and one day soon it would be again.

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUUUUUN! The plot thickens, and Cinder Fall prepares to infiltrate Beacon. What will happen next? Who knows? (Well I know, but that doesn't count.)**

 **Writing out the food fight scene was legitimately the most fun I've had writing this story so far. I went back and watched the episode so I could be sure I stayed as true to the source material as possible while still making changes to allow for the direction this fanfiction is taking. Clearly the biggest change was that, unlike in the original episode, Jaune was actually a serious contributor in this fight. No he did not beat Yang, but he was able to hold her off until Nora was ready to play golf and use Yang as her golf ball.**

 **I'm sure y'all noticed some big changes in his personality. Jaune's more confident in himself and his abilities. He's basically famous now, but he's not letting it get to his head and is for the most part just hanging out with his friends while still being polite to his "fans". The way he interacted with Weiss was different too. Because he's more confident in himself he approaches her with real confidence, which results in him getting through her cold outer shell somewhat, as opposed to the false bravado he puts on whenever he tries to flirt with her in the show. That being said the actual Jaune has had his moments (I don't care what anyone says. That scene in the emerald forest where he leaps out of the tree, catches Weiss, and asks her if shes "just dropping in" was smooth as _hell_ ) and I feel like we'll be seeing a more confident and mature Jaune in Volume 4. On the subject of Volume 4, LESS THAN ONE MONTH TILL IT'S OUT BABY! HYYYYYYYYPE! (I'm such RWBY trash)**

 **Ass always (yes I'm aware there's a typo but I'm leaving that one cause it's funny damnit) please follow and favorite if you have not yet done that. If you have a question, suggestion, or just want to say what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfictions then please tell them about this story if you think they'd enjoy it. I love you all. BBYYYEEEEEE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**HEEEELLLLOOOOOO! I'm glad to see everyone enjoyed the last chapter! Thanks to those of you who reviewed, especially gdvp111 and lazylegionspark for their extra long reviews. I enjoy reading all reviews, but I especially enjoy reading ones that really go in depth, as they help point out any errors or plot holes I may have made, or help me map out the path for this story further down the road. While I do have the general story line mapped out there are still things that can change, especially little details, and in depth reviews help me polish, refine, and overall improve the story.**

 **lazylegionspark mentioned that he was worried about Jaune's rather rapid improvement in ability, and I understand where he's coming from, but gdvp111 pointed out in his review that Jaune's training is far more intense and dedicated than that of his friends', and he's being trained by someone who has intimate knowledge on how to use a halberd effectively. Both make good points, and to them and everyone else reading this who worries about Jaune progressing too far too fast, I say never fear. My intent here was to get Jaune up to the level of his fellow first years. I'm not interested in making him OP. I'm simply ensuring that he won't be as... less useful as he was in the show (I don't wanna say useless cause Jaune is my baby boy who I adore and I know will eventually become a bad ass. Volume 4 will be the volume of awesome Jaune and no one can convince me otherwise).**

 **With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

Nathaniel watched the last of the Atlesian warships land and begin offloading its troops from his position in Ozpin's office. He, along with the headmaster and Glynda, had been watching the ships land and unload men and materials for the past hour with varying degrees of interest. Nathaniel for his part was intrigued to see how the might of modern militaries stacked up to the might of the ancient Gryphon Knights. So far he was not impressed.

While an Atlesian warship certainly looked like it had firepower it lacked maneuverability, which would make it an easy target for a murder of Nevermores. The smaller fighters were quick and agile, but lacked firepower and were vulnerable if struck from behind or the sides, where no weapons were present. If even a single Nevermore or Pegasus managed to slip behind it the pilot would be unable to defend himself. As for the ground troops? Nathaniel was glad he was wearing his helmet, as it hid his sneer of disdain. The men were armed only with rifles and bayonets. Most Grimm liked to attack their prey in close combat, where a rifle would be at a disadvantage and the few inches of steel blade supplied by the bayonet would be insufficient to kill anything greater than a Creep. And that was for the few actual men present. Most of the infantry consisted of _machines_ of all things.

"Ironwood certainly likes to bring his work wherever he travels," Glynda growled next to him. While Nathaniel was unimpressed by Atlas's military, Glynda herself seemed to resent their presence at the school altogether.

"Well, running an academy in a military makes him a busy man," Ozpin replied neutrally, "but yes those are a bit of an eyesore." The headmaster turned towards his gaze towards Nathaniel. "What do you think Nathaniel?"

"I think it's a good thing that I've started training Jaune," replied Nathaniel as he watched another company of the so called Atlesian "knights" offload. The very idea that those soulless hunks of metal shared a name with him made his skin crawl with displeasure. "If this is the might of Remnant's strongest military then you really do need the Gryphon Knights."

Ozpin smiled and took another sip from his ever present mug. "I assume you've found the might of Atlas's soldiers underwhelming."

"Not the soldiers," replied Nathaniel, "at least, not the _real_ soldiers. Those soulless machines don't deserve to be called knights. If Ironwood really wanted to safeguard Remnant then he would melt those things down and remake them into armor and weapons for his men. It is by flesh and blood that Remnant will be safeguarded. Not soulless metal men."

Ozpin hummed thoughtfully as he watched more troops unload. Suddenly the monitor on his desk flashed and beeped, informing him that his guest had arrived. "Be that as it may Nathaniel, I'd prefer it if you didn't mention that in front of the good general. He gets touchy when people insult his machine soldiers."

Nathaniel bowed his head to Ozpin. "Of course sir."

The doors to the elevator opened, and General Ironwood, leader of Atlas's military and headmaster of Atlas's huntsman academy, stepped into the office. "Ozpin!" the man exclaimed happily as he walked towards the white haired man.

"Hello General," Ozpin responded neutrally.

"Please, drop the formalities," the other man said with a smile. He took Ozpin's hand in both of his and shook it. "It's been too long."

Nathaniel followed Glynda as she slowly walked towards the two men. The knight had to admit that so far he was impressed with the General himself. A tall, clearly fit man with a likable personality. Perhaps he would be able to get along with the man.

The general turned towards the two of them, and smiled at Professor Goodwitch. "And Glynda, it has _certainly_ been too long since we last met."

Nathaniel scowled behind his helmet. Then again, maybe they would butt heads on a few issues.

"Oh James," Glynda said with clear sarcasm. She stepped back, allowing Nathaniel to step in front of her and become the focus of the General's attention.

"And you must be Nathaniel," said Ironwood in a decidedly cooler voice, "last of the Gryphon Knights." He held out his gloved hand for Nathaniel to shake. Nathaniel took it, surprised at just how strong the grip was. He met it with an equally strong grip, which seemed to surprise the headmaster of Atlas.

"Only the last for now," Nathaniel said evenly, "Jaune will rebuild the order one day soon."

"Ah yes. young Jaune Arc, your squire. I would like to meet the boy at some point if at all possible, along with his Gryphon."

"Perhaps someday," Nathaniel responded, "but for today he's spending time with his friends, and I wouldn't want to bother him needlessly."

"Of course," replied Ironwoood. The two men had yet to release their tight grips on the other's hand. Ozpin cleared his throat, which got the attention of both men and made them drop their hands.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, you and I have business to discuss James. Glynda, Nathaniel, the two of you may stay or go, whichever you wish."

Almost immediately Glynda made for the elevator with Nathaniel close behind her. When the doors shut and the elevator began to make its way down Nathniel glanced at the woman next to him. "So it's safe to assume you're not fond of the General?"

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "He's just so... he thinks the first solution to any situation is a show of force. He doesn't understand that the presence of a foreign military will only make our citizens more nervous than they already are. I know he has good intentions, but not every problem needs to be solved with strength of arms."

Nathaniel nodded, not sure how to respond, or where to take the conversation next. It was a problem with him. Around others he was comfortable and in control, barring the flirtatious Yang Xiao Long, but when he and the deputy headmistress were alone he just... clammed up. He wasn't familiar with women at all, not even knowing his own mother. It was a problem, especially considering his attraction to the professor. "I should let Jaune know that the General's here," muttered Nathaniel as he fumbled to pull his brand new scroll out of the pouch on his side. Ozpin had given it to him when he had agreed to teach at the school, but Nathaniel wasn't familiar with technology and tried to avoid using the scroll as much as possible. "He might try to talk to the boy when I'm not around, so he should be ready to deal with the general." After finally managing to open the scroll he tried to type in his code, but his large and armored fingers kept hitting the wrong keys. "I hate this thing," he growled.

"Here, let me help," said Glynda. She placed a hand on top of Nathaniel's gauntlet. "First you should probably take off the gauntlet. It will make it easier to type."

His face turning red behind the visor of his helmet Nahthaniel removed the gauntlet and tucked it under his arm. He typed in the code to the scroll, and it unlocked. He stared uncomprehendingly at the unfamiliar symbols and apps, at least he was pretty sure that's what they were called, on the screen. "I... I haven't really used this thing yet. Where's the... the letter app? What you use to send a message to someone?" Glynda smiled at him, which made his face turn even redder from embarrassment. He was _very_ glad he still had his helmet on. _"She must think I'm an utter fool..."_

To his surprise and joy Glynda took his uncovered hand in her own. Whereas his was large and rough, hers was smaller, slender, and warm. It was unfamiliar and strange, but he liked it. She pressed his finger against an icon in the top left corner of his scroll. "What you're thinking of is texting. You just tap your finger on the icon and it will open up the texting app. All you have to do is input Jaune's contact information into the 'send a new text' option, and you'll be able to send him a message."

Ignoring the feel of her hand on his, or at least trying to, he frowned in confusion. "Contact information?"

"His name and number? You do have them saved in your scroll don't you?"

"Um..."

She smiled again. That combined with the hand on his sent his heart into overdrive. She pulled out her own scroll and unlocked it. She tapped the screen a few times and started dragging her finger down it. "I have the contact information of all the students saved in case I need to reach them in an emergency. All of the other teachers do. I can give you Mr. Arc's information." She guided him through the process of inputting Jaune's information into his scroll, and sending the knight's squire a text message.

When he was done Nathaniel went to put the scroll back in its pouch, but Glynda reached over and took it out of his hand before he could. She tapped on his scroll a few times before handing it back to him. When he looked at what Glynda had put in on his scroll. "You added yourself as a contact?" he asked in confusion.

"Well of course," she said evenly. "We're both working together in combat class after all. It only makes sense for you to have my information in case you need to get in contact with me."

Nathaniel nodded as he put up his scroll and put on his gauntlet. That made sense to him. But in that case... "don't you need my contact information too?"

She smiled at him again, only there was something... else behind her smile that Nathaniel couldn't quite grasp. "No. I think I'll let you make the first move." At that moment the doors to the elevator opened at the two reached their stop. "I have papers that need to be graded, so I'm afraid I must say goodbye. Do text me later if it pleases you." With that she walked down one hall towards the teacher's rooms, her hips swaying side to side as she went.

Nathaniel watched her go, or more specifically watched her hips sway as she went. He shook his head and smacked his hand against the side of his helmet, the loud clang bringing himself back to reality. He pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm as he made his way down another hall towards the training rooms. "Don't even think about it Nathaniel," he muttered, "she's not interested." Right now the Gryphon Knight was distracted, and the best way he knew to fix that was to go to the training room and smash apart some training bots, and then take a cold shower. The image of Glynda's swaying hips returned to the surface of his mind.

Perhaps he would take the cold shower first.

* * *

Jaune sighed with boredom as he finished the latest X-ray and Vav comic. After the food fight both teams had gone and cleaned up before meeting back in the library. They had decided to take it easy for the rest of the day, as the food fight had taken it out of all of them. Normally Jaune would have been fine with taking it easy, but with his teammates doing some last minute studying to refresh themselves before classes started back up and team RWBY off playing a board game he was completely and utterly _bored._

"Yang Xiao Long prepare your kingdom for battle!" shouted the small leader of RWBY.

"Bring it on!"

"I deploy the Atlesian air fleet!" Yang gasped in horror as Ruby slammed her card onto the game board. "Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly," she said smugly, then proceeded to make airplane and explosion sounds.

"You fiend!" shouted Yang.

"Aaaand since Atlas is part of Mantle my repair time only lasts _one_ turn." Ruby smirked victoriously at her older sister, which Jaune figured she had every right to do. It was an impressive move, and one that could potentially result in the fall of Yang's kingdom of Mistral if the blonde girl didn't do something to stop the crimson tyrant.

This was when Yang laughed at her sister and held up a card. "Pretty sneaky sis, but you activated my trap card!"

"Whaaaaaat?!" squealed Ruby at such a high pitch that Jaune swore it left his ears ringing.

"GIANT NEVERMORE!" Yang slammed her fist on the table, knocking all of the pieces on the board over. "If I roll a seven or higher fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!"

"But if you roll a six or lower the Nevermore will turn on your own forces," countered Ruby.

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take," Yang said smugly.

The dice rolled, and Ruby mourned the loss of her fleet as Yang's Nevermore tore it apart.

The blonde girl turned towards Weiss as Ruby's head fell to the table in defeat. "Well Weiss, it's your turn!"

The white haired beauty stared at her cards intensely. "I have... no idea what's going on."

Jaune perked up at that. If Weiss was unaware of how to play, then maybe he could come over and show her. He was familiar with the game after all, and his tactical and logistical ability had improved under Nathaniel's tutoring. He stood up and made his way over to team RWBY's game as Weiss said something about taking people's children out of their arms. He'd probably just misheard her. Yang held up yet another trap card and demolished Weiss's armies. Ruby zipped over to her partner and landed in her arms, the two friends mourning the destruction of their armies. As they sobbed Yang turned to Blake. "Alright Blake, its your turn."

Blake jumped, and stared at the cards in her hand. "Um, sorry. What am I doing?"

"You're playing as Vale trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant."

"Right..." muttered the faunus girl. Clearly she wasn't really interested in playing, so Jaune decided that he would see if he could take her place.

"Hey, could I play?" he asked the girls.

"Sorry Jaune, but we've already got four people," Ruby said apologetically.

"Besides," scoffed Weiss, "this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess."

Jaune glanced at the board, and at the severely depleted armies of Snow Angel's Vacuo. Frankly he doubted he could do much worse than she had last turn, but he knew better than to say that. Yang however had no such inhibitions. "You attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago," she pointed out.

Weiss huffed indignantly, unable to deny that. Jaune grinned at the object of his affections. "Bring it on Ice Queen. I've been told I'm a natural born leader, and I've got the simulation scores to back it up."

"By who?" she scoffed, "your mother?"

"And Pyrrha," replied Jaune.

"Hello again!"

"And Nathaniel," finished Jaune, "besides, if I can ace a battle simulation I can win a board game. Come on, just let me play your hand for a turn." He grinned and winked at her, and was rewarded by a very light, almost non existent, pink tinge on her cheeks.

"I am _not_ trusting you with the good people of Vacuo," she responded coldly.

"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before."

"Like what?"

Jaune knew better than to say what he was thinking. instead he tilted his head towards Blake, indicating what he was talking about. Weiss's mouth opened and closed as she tried to come up with an argument against that, but they both knew there wasn't one. Unfortunately for him she was saved from having to create an argument against him by the arrival of a certain blonde faunus. "'Sup losers?"

Sun had arrived, and with the blue haired boy that Jaune remembered from earlier. Only now he wasn't covered in grape soda. "Hey Sun," said Ruby cheerily.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake," he smirked at Weiss. "Ice Queen."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!"

Instead of answering Sun turned to Jaune. "Hey Jaune." He waved to the other member's of JNPR, all of whom waved back except for Nora, who had fallen asleep on Ren's book.

"Hey Sun." Jaune said to his fellow blonde.

"I never got the chance to introduce all of you to my old friend."

"Uh... aren't libraries for reading?" asked the blue haired boy next to Sun.

"Thank you!" shouted Ren from JNPR's table.

Nora snorted and woke up. "Pancakes!"

"Shut up. Don't be a nerd," muttered Sun to his friend.

"Ah ah ah," responded his friend, "intellectual. Okay? Thank you." He turned to RWBY and JNPR. "I'm Neptune."

"So, Neptune. Where are you from?" asked Weiss. Jaune frowned and looked at the heiress. Weiss never showed interest in anyone outside of her teammates, teachers, and on a few occasions the other three members of JNPR.

"Haven," responded the blue haired boy as he walked over to her, "and I don't believe I've caught your name, Snow Angel."

Oh _hell_ no. That was Jaune's thing, not this guy's! You didn't just use another guy's thing! Well if it hadn't worked for him it surely wouldn't work for Neptune.

Weiss _smiled_ at Neptune, and Jaune swore he felt his heart freeze over. "I'm Weiss," she said sweetly.

"Are you kidding me?!" Jaune hissed to himself. There was no _way_ some random stranger had managed to accomplish in seconds what Jaune had tried to do for months. And with his own pick up line no less!

"Pleasure to meet you," Neptune replied and winked at Weiss, who _blushed._ The blonde boy heard Sun say something to Blake about board games, but he wasn't listening. Instead he returned to JNPR's table and picked up the X-Ray and Vav comic to put it back on its shelf. He was done with the library for today anyway.

"Where are you going?" asked a worried Pyrrha. She had seen what had happened between Weiss and Neptune and would undoubtedly want to help Jaune, but right now the squire just wanted to be left alone.

"I'm just going to get some air," he responded with a smile that even he knew looked fake. "I'll see you guys back in the dorm room."

* * *

Later that evening team JNPR was in its dorm room and preparing for bed. Nora was in the shower, Ren was doing some light reading as he waited for his turn, Pyrrha was doing some stretches, and Jaune was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling in his shorts and t-shirt that had become his sleep attire. He thinking of a certain white haired beauty, or rather he was thinking about her sudden attraction to Neptune, and wondering what the bluenette had done to win her over in seconds. Ultimately Jaune didn't know. Sure the boy was taller than him, handsomer too, and from another kingdom, which Jaune supposed technically made him "exotic", but were those three things enough to win her over so easily? At the beginning of the year Jaune had certainly been... less than impressive, and his false bravado probably hadn't helped her opinion of him, but he had changed over the past four weeks. He was more capable than ever before, and by this point probably on par with the average first year students in terms of combat prowess. Sure he couldn't hold a candle to people like Pyrrha or Yang, but he was no longer helpless, especially with Talon at his side. Additionally he had real confidence in himself for the first time in... ever. The false bravado he had put on at the beginning of the year was gone, replaced by a cool confidence in himself and his abilities.

So sure, Neptune was suave, handsome, and charming, but Jaune was destined to revive an ancient knightly order and had a freaking _Gryhpon_. Surely that had to count for something?

With a grunt he pushed himself into a sitting position and picked up his pack he had carried during his, Talon's, and Nathaniel's excursion into the Emerald Forest. Most of what was in there could stay in there, but there was one thing he had to take out. He reached in and pulled it out carefully, examining it in his hand to ensure it hadn't been damaged at some point. The object he held was, to put it simply, the most beautiful white rose he had ever seen carefully placed in a small pot. During their last night in the forest Jaune had gone out to gather firewood for their fire. While he had scoured the ground for any dry wood he had seen the rose. A beam of moonlight was shining directly on it through the canopy, and the flower had been literally glowing in the moonlight, as though it were a star that had come down to earth. As soon as he had seen it Jaune had thought of Weiss, and knew he had to get it for her. As carefully as he could he had dug up the soil around the flower and gently scooped the rose out of the ground, ensuring he did as little damage to the flower's root system as possible. He had taken it back to camp along with a clump of the soil it had been growing in, and as gently as possible had replanted it in a pot he'd brought with him. The original reason he had brought the pot with him was that he and Nathaniel had on their previous outing to the forest come across an herb that had useful medicinal properties, but only survived for a few hours after being dug up if it wasn't replanted quickly. However Jaune had determined that the white rose, which he had privately dubbed the Angel's Rose, was far more important. He planned on giving it to Weiss when he asked her to go to the Vytal festival dance with him. He just hoped that the rose would show her that he cared about _her_ , and not her last name.

Jaune was aware that one of the reasons Weiss shot him down was probably because she thought that he was only interested in her name and the money associated with it. Jaune understood her caution, especially now that he had a small legion of fan girls who he knew only really cared about his fame, but she couldn't have been more wrong. He liked _her_ , not what her last name was, and certainly not the money associated with it. When he had first been enraptured by her beauty he hadn't even known her first name, let alone her last. When he had learned who she was and just how important of a person she was it hadn't changed his opinion of her one bit. She was smart, beautiful, talented, really _did_ care after you got past the cold facade she put on, and her singing voice was absolutely _angelic._ Jaune had had the great fortune to learn that she had temporarily had a hobby as an opera singer, and almost immediately had started searching for her songs. They had been so haunting and beautiful that Jaune was certain she had to be at least part angel, for no normal woman could naturally have a voice like _that._

"Jaune? Where did you get that?" Pyrrha had finished her stretching and now stood at his bedside, staring at the Angel's Rose.

He jumped in shock. He had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he had forgotten that there were other people in the room. He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head nervously. "I uh... I found it in the Emerald forest over the weekend. I'm planning on giving it to Weiss when I ask her to the dance. I just need to figure out when a good time to do that is."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. "I got it," Jaune said. He placed the Angel's Rose on the dresser next to his bed and walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey Ruby. What's up?"

"Hi Jaune!" she leaned in close and tried to whisper into Jaune's ear. He had to bend over so she could reach it. "Team Ruby is coming up with a plan to put a stop to Torchwick and the White Fang's evil plans, and team Juniper should totally be a part of it, but I left my board game in the library so I have to get it before we can come up with our super awesome plan." Before he could ask for any clarification the pint sized leader zipped down the hall towards the library. With a shake of his head Jaune shut the door to the room. Pyrrha and Ren looked at him quizzically.

"What was that about?" asked Pyrrha.

Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Well she was speaking kind of fast, but unless I totally miss my mark I think she said that team Ruby was coming up with a plan to fight Torchwick and the White Fang, and wants us to help."

As though the words had summoned her Nora kicked the door to the bathroom open, looking unreasonably threatening in her sleep pants and boop shirt. "Well of course we will!" cried the hammer wielder, "a chance to smack around White Fang bullies and break their legs? Sign me up!"

"Don't you think we should put it to a vote Nora?" asked Ren.

"Come on Renny. We already know we're all going to vote in favor of it."

"That's... actually a fair point."

Pyrrha looked to Jaune. "What about you? Will you be able to help with the schedule Nathaniel puts you on?"

Jaune shrugged. "My lessons with him end in the evening on weekdays. If we work at night I'll be free. As for the weekends... Nathaniel does say that a Gryphon Knight's first duty is to protect the people. If I explain to him what we're doing he might let me go free."

"And tell Ozpin," pointed out Ren.

Jaune scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Frankly it was a good point, however if Jaune knew anything about Ozpin at this point it was that the headmaster was going to find out anyway, so there was no point in trying to hide something from him in the first place. Jaune had learned that the hard way. "Trust me when I say that I think he'll find out anyway. He's got a knack for figuring things out. However that doesn't mean he'll stop us unless he thinks things are getting out of hand."

"Awesome!" chirped Nora, "so we're all in favor of helping team Ruby do something super dangerous and awesome?" Pyrrha and Ren nodded, and the three of them looked at Jaune expectantly.

Jaune wanted to say no. He wanted to forbid them from putting themselves in that kind of danger, and team RWBY too for that matter. The whole reason he had agreed to accepting his role as Knight-Lord and being privately trained by Nathaniel was to keep them _away_ from danger for as long as possible, but here they were about to rush headlong into it. The worse part was he knew he could stop his teammates. All he had to do was say no, and they wouldn't go through with it. However he commanded no such loyalty from team RWBY, and with or without JNPR they would go off into danger. Jaune might as well be where he and his massive beast of war were in a position to help if, and by if he meant _when_ , things went south. On top of that perhaps this would be a chance for Jaune to show Weiss he was totally good boyfriend material, more so than some blue haired pretty boy. He grinned at his teammates and shrugged. "Why not? Team RWBY's going to need us there to bail them out when they screw it up royally anyway right?"

Nora grinned and started bouncing in place. "I love our friends. So when do we go over and start planning our master plan to bring an end to the plans of a master criminal?"

Jaune frowned. "I don't actually know. Ruby ran off to the library to get her board game, so I guess she'll tell us when she gets back." As though on cue there was a knock at the door. "I guess that's her." Jaune walked over to the door and opened it. "Hey Ru- oh, sorry. Thought you were someone else. Can I help you?"

The girl standing on the other side of the door was most definitely _not_ Ruby. Whereas Ruby was absolutely adorable this girl was so drop dead gorgeous that Jaune immediately felt hot under the collar. She wore an unfamiliar uniform which consisted of a black long sleeved top, a gray skirt, and leggings that left _just_ enough bare skin between the hem of the skirt and the leggings to attract his attention. Her eyes were so amber they almost looked gold, and her hair was as black as pure onyx and hung down over one eye in that way that was inexplicably attractive. She smiled at him, and Jaune's heartbeat doubled in pace.

 _"Focus Jaune!"_ He made himself return to reality and forced his heart rate to slow back down to a normal level.

The drop dead gorgeous girl slipped a finger into her black locks and started twirling the finger around her hair. "My name is Cinder. These are my teammates Mercury and Emerald. We're exchange students from Haven, and I'm afraid we got a bit turned around searching for our dorm building. I don't suppose you could take us there, could you?"

"Um..." Jaune scratched his head. Normally he'd say yes, but Ruby would be back any minute now with her board game, and then both her team and his would start planning their investigation on Torchwick and the Fangs. He didn't want to miss a second of it. As much as his male hormones were screaming at him to say _yes_ he forced himself to shake his head no. "Sorry, but my team and I are waiting for someone to show up. If you take a left at the end of the hall and head out the doors you should have a straight path towards your dorm though. Sorry I couldn't help more."

Cinder smiled at him again, which sent his heart into overdrive again, and held out her hand for him to shake. "It's perfectly fine, I assure you." He gently took the proffered hand in his own to shake, and as soon as his skin made contact with hers his whole body felt like it was suffused with warmth through the simple act of holding her hand in his. A treacherous part of his mind wondered what it would feel like to hold something other than her hand, but he squashed that thought as soon as it came up before it made something else _come up_. That would be a less than ideal first impression.

"You're that man I keep hearing about, aren't you? Jaune Arc, the Gryphon rider." The finger twirling around black locks left her hair and rested on her chin thoughtfully. Jaune couldn't help the fact that his eyes automatically went from her finger to her full lips before he forced himself to look her in the eye.

"Gryhpon Knight," he corrected automatically, "well Gryphon Knight squire really, but yeah that's me."

"Hmmm," the gorgeous girl hummed thoughtfully as she let her gaze wonder up and down his body. Wherever her eyes passed over his skin felt warm, and part of him wished she would stop before his composure started to crack, while another part wished she would go beyond just staring.

 _"Damn you teenage hormones..."_

Finally her amber eyes came back up to his blue ones, and she smiled at him again. This time however the smile wasn't simply friendly. It contained something far more... _alluring_ than friendship. "The pictures I've seen don't do you justice." Her hand slipped from his, the edges of her fingernails gently dragging against his palm and sending tingles all up and down his arm. "I must say I prefer the real thing. Perhaps I'll see you around Jaune." With a last sultry smile Cinder turned and sauntered sensually away, her hips swaying back and forth. Her two teammates (whose presence had slipped Jaune's mind for completely acceptable reasons) followed after her, knowing smiles on their faces.

Jaune was beginning to think about how much he seriously needed a cold glass of water and a colder shower when he spotted Ruby sprinting down the hall with her board game in hand. The little reaper tripped halfway down the hall and tumbled to the floor before pushing herself up and picking up her board game. "I'm okay! We can start the meeting now!"

Suppressing a laugh he looked at his teammates in the room, who were staring at him with varying level of disbelief. Nora was actually silent for once, Ren looked dumbfounded, and Pyrrha's face was red and she looked almost... angry. "Heh... uh... Ruby's back?" He knew he was going to have to deal with their reactions to Cinder later, but right now they had a terrorist organization and a master criminal to stop.

* * *

 **So, that happened. Jaune is super jelly of Neptune despite being a Gryphon riding bad ass, and now has the additional problem of Cinder taxing his self control by trying to seduce him after not knowing him for five minutes. Will she succeed? Will Jaune's willpower, determination, and feelings for Weiss win out against the fact that Cinder is really, _really_ , hot (pun intended)?! You don't know, but I do, and that's why being an author is awesome. No fighting in this chapter unfortunately (unless you count Ruby's board game or Jaune's secret war for Weiss's heart) but I hope all the relationship stuff kind of made up for that (be honest though, it didn't, cause violence is AWESOME).**

 **I hope the scene between Glynda and Nathaniel didn't feel forced. I just thought I'd give it a try, see how I liked NathanielxGlynda (quick someone come up with a ship name for that. The person with the best NathanielxGlynda ship name gets my ever lasting love and adoration) and I have to say that I personally liked it. I mean Glynda, while a rather terrifying person when upset, is still a woman. She's gonna have emotions and feelings, which includes romantic feelings. When you take into account that the only eligible males in the show close to her age are Ironwood, whose attempts at flirting seem to put her off, Port or Oobleck (do I even need to say anything?), or Ozpin, who's always struck me as a Gandalf-ish character whose libido has probably been drowned in coffee. Meanwhile here comes Nathaniel, who doesn't try to flirt with her because he's 100% uncomfortable around women and is going to toe the freaking line around Glynda to avoid upsetting his co-worker. I dunno. I just like it.**

 **One of the things I both love and hate about RWBY is that you can ship anyone with _anyone_. Seriously the sky's the friggin limit. It's great because so many of the ships are super clever, but at the same time so many of them make _no god damn sense_. I don't know what it is about this anime, but everyone loves to make some just insane ships. I've even seen YatuashixNeo fanart (which I won't lie was adorable)!**

 **Personally my favorite ships have always been ones that involve Jaune since he's my favorite character, and lets be honest here, the most eligible bachelor. He's awkward, clumsy, tries too hard to win over the object of his affections sometimes, but lets be honest guys: we've all got a little bit of Jaune in us (no homo).**

 **As always please follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction then please tell them about this fic if you think they'd enjoy it. If you have any comments, suggestions, questions, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYEEEEEEEE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**HEEEELLLLOOOOOO! Thank you to everyone who left a review, especially those of you who left ship names for Nathaniel and Glynda, and boy did I get a lot of those! It was a very hard choice picking through all of the great ship names I got, but in the end I have decided to go with... *drum roll***

 **GOODKNIGHT!**

 **It was a _very_ hard choice (seriously y'all had some awesome ideas) and this one barely pulled it out, only just beating The Niemad's suggestion of Skywitch. So congratulations to shadowfox68, who gets my never ending love and adoration (no homo if you're a dude... okay a little. You get a little homo, as in a tiny gay man). **

**I'm glad to see that everyone is enjoying the story. At times it can be hard to balance trying to stay as true to canon as possible and making necessary changes without screwing up the entire story line with a single action, but it's honestly a fun challenge.**

 **With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

"I thought that class would _never_ end," said Blake as she adjusted the ribbon of Gambol shroud on her wrist. Pyrrha couldn't help but agree with the cat faunus. If Port's class had been more actual class and less reminiscing then she would have actually paid attention. As it was she normally dozed off, typically waiting until Jaune was asleep so she could use his shoulder as a pillow. At least, she had back when he'd actually had classes with them. Now he was probably either working out or learning about history and Grimm anatomy with Nathaniel when he should be with his teammates and friends. The champion couldn't keep a small scowl from creeping onto her face as she adjusted her vambrace.

"Alright guys, today's the day. The investigation begins!" Ruby jumped off of her suspended bed onto the floor, nearly kicking Weiss in the face in the process.

"I'm glad to see we are taking this so seriously," Weiss said dryly.

"Hey!" shouted Yang with mock indignity, "we've got a plan. That's... moderately serious."

Nora grinned and jumped up onto the bed next to Yang. "It's better than no plan at all right?" The two girls fist bumped.

"Right," agreed Ruby, "everyone remember their roles?"

"You, Pyrrha, and I shall head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other dust robberies or inconsistencies." The heiress put on that smug smile that made Pyrrha wonder what Jaune saw in her. "Seeing as how I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."

"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members," said Blake, "if I can get in I can hopefully find out what they're planning."

"Nora and I will be with Blake, but will separate on the way to the meeting," said Ren as he gave Stormflower one more inspection, "Nora and I will be nearby in case something should go wrong, and we'll go in and help Blake escape."

"I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale," said Yang. She smirked, "getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard." the way Yang said that left Pyrrha wondering just how she was going to get the info from her mystery friend.

"Jaune will be joining us after later, when he's flying with Talon," said Pyrrha. "He'll going around the city, talking to the owners of the dust shops that were hit by the White Fang, and be ready to help us if something goes wrong."

"Great, we'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we've found." Ruby pumped her fist, "let's do this!"

"Yeah!"

Pyrrha jumped at the new voice and turned towards its source, the window. There hanging by his tail was Sun Wukong. "Sun!" shouted Blake in surprise as they all jumped back.

"How did you get up there?" asked a bemused Yang.

"Ah, it's easy. I do it all the time."

"You do what?!" shouted Weiss.

"I climb trees all the time," said Sun with a grin. He jumped into the room, landing easily on his feet. "So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"

Blake stepped forward. " _We_ are going to investigate the situation," she waved her hand to the rest of RWBY and NPR. "As teams."

"Sorry Sun," apologized Ruby, "we don't want to get any other friends involved if we don't have to."

Sun laughed. "That's dumb! You should always get friends involved!" He pointed out the window, "that's why I brought Neptune."

The seven members of RWBY and JNPR leaned out the window, standing on top of one another so no one's view was blocked. Sure enough Jaune's blue haired rival for Weiss's affections was standing on the rather narrow ledge, looking fairly calm about his situation. "Sup?"

"How did you even get up here?" asked a befuddled Ruby.

He smirked, "I have my ways." He looked down at the five story drop below him. "Seriously though, can I come in? We're like _really_ high up right now."

When he had gotten inside RWBY's dorm the little leader went about arranging who would go where with their two new members. "Alright. I'll go with Weiss and Pyrrha, Sun will go with Blake, Nora, and Ren." She started pushing Neptune towards Yang, who winked at Weiss as he went past her. Oddly enough the bluenette didn't seem to mind being literally pushed around by a fifteen year old girl. "Neptune, you can go with Yang since she doesn't have a partner. Everyone good?"

Pyrrha smiled at Ruby, who bashfully returned it. She new what the little crismonette was doing: she was trying to keep Neptune away from Weiss for Jaune's sake. Even though Ruby herself had feelings for the blonde boy, she was trying to give him a fighting chance with Weiss. Pyrrha didn't think that she would be selfless enough to do the same had she been in charge of forming the teams.

"Actually Ruby," said Weiss hesitatingly as Pyrrha felt her heart drop and soar at the same time, "why don't _you_ and Pyrrhago with Yang? She is your sister, and it's not like we'd need three people just to make a call at the CCT tower."

Pyrrha could see the panic in Ruby's eyes as she scrambled to come up with a response. "Then uh... who... who would go with you Weiss?"

The heiress smiled at Neptune, who winked back. "Well... I guess Neptune could come with me."

Pyrrha could tell that Ruby was trying to come up with a good reason why Neptune couldn't go with Weiss, and failing. Fortunately big sister Yang came to the rescue. "Actually Weiss, my friend's place of business isn't exactly somewhere someone Ruby's age can go. It wouldn't work for her to come with me."

Pyrrha knew Ruby must have been relieved to have an out, because she didn't even pout at the age comment Yang made. "Yeah what Yang said! So let's go like right now!" She grabbed Pyrrha by the hand, Weiss by the collar, and dragged them out the door and towards the CCTS tower before Weiss could say anything on the matter.

* * *

"Wow!" shouted Ruby as she stared at the CCTS tower in wonder. "I forgot how big the transmit tower looks up close!"

Pyrrha smiled at the short girl. Despite being a team leader and huntress prodigy the little girl reminded the champion more of an excited little girl than anything else. She'd never say so out loud, but she found it adorable.

"You should see the one in Atlas," replied Weiss.

"That was the first one, wasn't it?" asked Pyrrha.

"Correct," confirmed Weiss, "Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War."

"Ooh look at me. my name is Weiss, I know facts, I'm rich!" teased Ruby. Both she and Pyrrha giggled at the joke as Weiss frowned.

"Don't be pests," she said defensively. "Besides, the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much. We could have just as easily made a call from the library."

"I know," said Ruby excitedly, "but it's so cool! Ooh I'm going to take a picture!" She pulled out her scroll, which slipped out of her hands and bounced across the ground, stopping at the feet of a red haired girl.

The girl picked up the scroll and held it out to Ruby. "You dropped this," she said. Pyrrha frowned as she looked the girl up and down. Something about her was familiar...

"Penny?" gasped Ruby. _Now_ Pyrrha remembered. The girl had helped them at the docks against the White Fang, but had disappeared after the fighting stopped.

The ginger's eyes widened as she recognized Ruby. "Um..."

"Where have you been? We haven't seen you since the night at the docks!"

"S-sorry" Penny stammered, "I think you're confused." She hiccupped and the scroll flew out of her hands, which Ruby caught. "Uh, I've got to go." Penny turned around and all but ran away from the three girls.

"What was that all about?" asked a confused Weiss.

"I don't know," said Ruby as she began walking after Penny, "but I'm going to find out. You two go make the call. I'll meet up with you later." Ruby hurried off after Penny before either Weiss or Pyrrha could say anything.

"I guess we'll see her later?" asked Pyrrha.

Weiss sighed. "We will. She always does this. Come on, let's go get the information we need."

The two of them headed towards the CCTS tower in awkward silence. Neither knew what to say, and all that Pyrrha could think of to talk about that would interest them both would be Jaune, which probably wasn't a safe topic with Weiss. Truthfully Pyrrha couldn't see _why_ Weiss didn't like Jaune, but seemed to have fallen head over heels for some random guy she had known for less than a day. Jaune had confided in Pyrrha that he knew one of the reasons she kept turning him down was because she thought he was just after her name, and Pyrrha could understand that, being famous herself and coming from a wealthy family in Mistral. What she couldn't understand was why Weiss thought Neptune was any different from the boys who were after her money. As far as she knew he hadn't done anything that Jaune hadn't tried. The boy had even stolen Jaune's nickname for her, only it had worked for Neptune!

Pyrrha was about to ask Weiss about that when she ran face first into something metal. She stumbled back and rubbed her nose. "What?" She looked up and realized that they had already reached the elevator in the CCTS tower. She had been so distracted that she had run face first into it.

"Are you okay Pyrrha?" asked Weiss with concern.

"I'm fine. I was lost in my own thoughts and hadn't realized we had reached the elevator."

Weiss pressed the up button and the elevator door opened. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure" she reassured the heiress. The two stepped into the elevator, and the doors shut behind them.

"Hello," said a feminine yet robotic voice, "welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?"

"We would like to go to the communications room please," said Weiss in response to the AI's question.

"Absolutely. Please place your scrolls on the terminal to verify your identities." Both girls placed their scrolls on the terminal before them. The AI scanned their scrolls, then beeped. "Perfect. Thank you Miss Schnee and Miss Nikos."

Weiss put on a smile that even Pyrrha could tell was fake. It fell, and she tried to put on another, even faker smile, which also fell. Pyrrha placed a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "Are _you_ okay?" she asked.

Weiss sighed and nodded. "Yes. It's just that to get the information we need I'll have to get in contact with my father's personal secretary, who will undoubtedly inform him that I called. I prefer to avoid him whenever possible."

Pyrrha didn't know how to respond to that. Her own childhood had been very good, even taking into consideration that she had been trained from a young age to fight. Her father and mother loved her very much, and always made sure she didn't want for anything and stayed in touch with her. The champion couldn't imagine having such a strained relationship with her own father.

The elevator reached the communications room, and the two girls stepped out of the elevator. They walked up a supposedly empty front desk, in which a holographic woman appeared who started typing on the keyboard before her. "Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?"

"I need to make a call to Schnee Company World headquarters in Atlas."

"Absolutely," replied the AI, "if you could head over to terminal three I'll patch you through."

Weiss turned to Pyrrha. "Unless you have to make a call yourself you may as well wait here. Some of the documents I'll be asking for are a bit on the classified side, so if she saw someone with me she may not allow me access to them." Pyrrha nodded her understanding and waited by the front desk as Weiss went to terminal three. A few minutes later the heiress returned, scroll in hand and looking moody. "I got the info we need. Let's get out of here." The two got on the elevator and rode back down to the first floor. When they got off they headed outside and looked around for Ruby.

"I guess she's not back yet," said Pyrrha.

"She will be soon enough," responded Weiss, who sat down on a bench. "Until she gets back we may as well start going over the information I retrieved and sort through what we do and do not need."

"Sounds like a plan to me." The champion sat next to the heiress, and the two of them started going through the information, awaiting the pint sized leader's return.

* * *

At the Bullhead landing pads Jaune checked all of the straps on Talon's saddle, making sure none of them were loose or too tight. The day had gone by far too slowly, but now he was finally free to saddle up on Talon and take to the skies to help his friends. Trying and failing to surpress his excited grin Jaune hopped into the saddle and slipped his feet into the stirrups. "Anything feel off?" Jaune asked Talon.

The Gryphon walked around a bit, then flapped its wings a couple times to ensure they could move freely. _"Everything seems fine,"_ he confirmed.

"Where will you be flying today?" asked Nathaniel.

"Probably over Vale," Jaune said in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner.

"To go help your friends in their investigation into the White Fang and Torchwick I assume?"

Jaune sighed and slumped in the sadde, "Ozpin?"

"Ozpin."

"How did he even find out? We just came up with our plans last night!"

"I don't know honestly, he didn't say. I think it's probably his semblance. He just knows things."

Jaune sighed and rubbed his face, "I guess. Since you brought up the subject I may as well ask now. As long as we're investigating, can I have weekends off?"

Nathaniel frowned and scratched his chin under his beard. "Hm... perhaps. Give me some time to think on it. How long do you think this investigation of yours will last?"

Jaune shrugged, "I honestly don't know. It could be the rest of the year, or it could be a couple days." Suddenly his scroll went off. Jaune pulled it out and opened it.

"Everyone! If you can hear me we need back-"

"HEEEELLLP! They got a robot! And it's big! Really big! The Torchwick guy is in it, but not like, it didn't eat him. He's like controlling it or something!"

Jaune looked up from his scroll at Nathaniel, who had heard everything. "Or it could just be tonight," he said sheepishly. His eyes shot back down to his scroll as he realized something. "Was that Sun?! Why's Sun with them?" Jaune groaned as he realized something. If Sun was with them, then that meant...

Neptune was too.

"Damnit," Jaune muttered.

"I'll get Glynda, and come to your location to help!" shouted Nathaniel as he ran back to the school

Jaune nodded. "sounds good to me. Let's go Talon!" The Gryphon tossed his head back and shrieked, then unfolded its massive wings and took to the sky. The ground passed by as a blur as Jaune guided Talon towards the signal Blake's scroll was giving off. He could still Sun shouting even through the howling wind. Jaune glanced at his scroll to check their position. "We're less than a mile away!" he shouted to Talon over the wind.

 _"I already see them!"_ replied Talon, _"they're on the highway being pursued by one of Ironwood's metal men!"_

Jaune looked up from his scroll and saw that indeed there was a massive mech charging down the road as cars swerved out of the way. Jaune could just barely make out four figures fleeing down the highway as the robot chased them. Two others followed on a bike that he knew was Yang's. Jaune watched as the mech charged down the highway, smashing aside cars as if pursued Blake and Sun. Cars full of people.

Red fury clouded Jaune's sight as he watched whoever was piloting the mech callously smash aside cars filled with innocent people, filled with _families._ Through their mental link Jaune could feel equal fury radiating from Talon as the Gryphon shrieked in rage and pumped its wing's harder as he angled himself to incercept the mech's path. The ground passed under them as mere streaks of color as Jaune couched his halberd, his face twisted in fury. "Get him of the road," he snarled.

Talon slammed into the mech with enough force to make the ground shake. Driven by the force of Talon's impact the spearhead of Brillant Mors sank into the metal as though it were made of paper as Gryphon and rider shoved the mech off of the highway and drove it into the ground below. Jaune wrenched his halberd free and gripped it in both hands, slamming the hammerhead into the metal again and again with enough force to leave sizable dents as Talon's claws raked over the metal, gouging it open as the Gryphon furiously tried to reach the person within with the intention of tearing him limb from limb. Jaune switched to the axehead and started assisting Talon in his attempt to reach the pilot, each swing splitting metal like wood. Normally Jaune would have tried to curb Talon's blood lust, but after watching Torchwick endanger so many lives the squire wanted _blood._

Both rider and Gryhpon were so focused on reaching Torchwick that they didn't see the mech's massive fist come flying at them until it hit them and flung them off of the machine. Jaune slipped out of the saddle as they were knocked through the air and slammed into the ground next to his mount. Immediately he pushed himself to his feet next to Talon and eyed his foe warily. They had done some damage to the mech and torn out chunks of metal plating and wiring, but it wasn't nearly enough to put the machine down. Jaune doubted they would be able to beat it on their own, but he knew they wouldn't have to. He could see his friends and teammates rushing over to help, so all he and Talon had to do was distract it until they did.

Jaune got back in the saddle and couched his halberd again. Talon shrieked his defiance at the machine and charged forward, his claws tearing out chunks of concrete under his paws. Panels on the back of the mech opened, and numerous missiles came flying out and arced towards Jaune and Talon. The Gryphon spread his wings and took to the air, the missiles passing just inches beneath him. The Gryphon landed and closed the gap between Jaune and Torchwick. The war beast slammed into the mechanical monster and forced it back inch by inch as the machine futilely tried to push back. Jaune drove his halberd into the gap he and Talon had torn in its chest again and again. The machine brought one of its massive arms around, this one ending in an intimidating laser cannon. Jaune eyes widened and he mentally shouted at Talon to disengage. The Gryphon spread its wings and leapt back as a ball of white hot engery slammed into the ground where they had been. _"Circle it! Keep his attention on us!"_ Talon took to the skies and flew around the mech, which followed them and began firing blasts of energy at them, which Talon nimbly avoided. After a few seconds of this Torchwick's mech stumbled as a barrage of fire from Jaune's friends pounded it from behind. Torchwick turned towards the greater threat and started firing its cannons at the others, who were forced to scatter. Jaune grinned in victory. Torchwick had made the fatal mistake of ignoring Jaune and Talon, and they meant to capitalize on that. The Gryphon flew several hundred feet into the air, then turned and shot down like a bullet towards the mech, which was still engaging the others.

When Jaune and Talon were just over a hundred feet above the mech one of the panels opened and a missile shot out towards them, closing the gap in a millisecond.

While both rider and mount were protected by their auras the direct hit was more than enough to drain them to almost nothing and knocked Jaune out of the saddle. Talon slammed into the concrete twenty feet away as Jaune landed back first on the mech, gasping in pain as the impact drove the air out of his lungs and drained the last of his aura. He slid off of the mech and onto the ground, where he barely managed to push himself to his feet and leaned against his halberd for support. He looked up and saw the cannon of the mech aimed directly at him. Tired, battered, and without aura there was nothing Jaune could do but stare death in the face and bare his teeth in defiance, which was exactly what he did. "Do it," he growled, "if you're man enough."

"Not bad kid," said Torchwick over the speakers, "but not good enough." The light of the charging energy blast illuminated Jaune. Oddly enough the only thing he could think of in his last moments was that he hoped he at least looked cool right now, because Vaya knew he didn't _feel_ cool.

His final moments were rudely interrupted, however, when Ruby and Pyrrha came out of nowhere and sliced off the arm attached to the cannon that was pointed at his face. The energy dissipated as the arm fell to the ground next to him, and Pyrrha and Ruby pushed the mech back from him as the others, including Sun and Neptune, rushed past him and joined in what was becoming a beat down, with the unfortunate Torchwick's mech being the target.

The mech quickly being reduced to scrap Jaune limped over to Talon. "Are you okay?"

The war beast pushed itself up and shook its head, its mane flying side to side. Some of his plumage was still smoldering, but that seemed to the extent of his injuries as far as Jaune could tell. _"That was nothing. I've been stepped on by a Goliath before and came out perfectly fine, minus a broken wing and wounded pride."_

"Can you still fight and fly?" asked Jaune as he climbed onto Talon's bare back, the saddle having been totally destroyed in the blast.

 _"Of course I can."_ The proud Gryphon arrogantly spread his wings, his head still held high...

And then flinched and drew his left wing back. _"Well, I can fight,"_ the Gryphon said sheepishly, _"but not fly."_

The sound of a Bullhead engine grabbed Jaune's attention, and he looked up to see one such vehicle flying away from the site of the battle. Jaune sighed and shook his head. "Your eyesight is better than mine. Is Torchwick in that Bullhead?"

The Gryphon hissed in displeasure, which was all the confirmation Jaune needed. Jaune slid off of Talon's back and winced and clutched his side as pain lanced through his body. He masked the pain he felt and patted Talon's side. "Hey, we did really well. We took that thing on in one on one combat and we held our own. Not bad for a ten thousand year old bird and a fresh faced squire." The Gryphon nodded in agreement, but Jaune could feel the disappointment radiating off of his mount, and felt it echo in his own soul. They should have done better. They should have been able to capture Torchwick.

Two voices cried his name, and Jaune looked up just in time to see Ruby and Pyrrha slam into him and hug him tightly, which made the pain in his side significantly worse. "Guys," he gasped, "please let go. I think I cracked a rib back there, and this _really_ isn't helping matters." Both of the girls released him and jumped back with concern on their faces. Jaune groaned inwardly. Maybe he should have just let them keep hugging him. He stopped Pyrrha from slipping her hand under his shirt to check his injury and pushed her hand away. "I'm fine," he grunted, "just need to wait until my aura fills back up enough to heal it." He looked at Talon, _"so how long will it take your wing to get healed up?"_

 _"A couple days when my aura is refilled, a process which will be much faster when I get some food in my stomach."_

Jaune nodded and winced in pain again, leaning on his halberd for support. By this point in his training Jaune had received a couple cracked rips, and new that the healing process would take somewhere between a couple hours or a day, depending on how bad it was.

Pyrrha and Ruby gently but firmly placed their hands on his shoulders and pushed him into a sitting position. They undid the straps on his breastplate and removed it, setting it to the side and rolling his shirt up. "We need to be sure that there's nothing else other than a cracked rib," said Ruby.

"I'm fine," he growled as he tried to push their probing hands away to no avail. They continued to poke and prod his chest and stomach as they searched for anywhere else he was hurt. With a defeated sigh he leaned against the warm side of Talon and let them do... whatever it was they were doing. "Not a word out of you," Jaune warned Talon. The big beast shrugged, but Jaune could feel the smugness radiating off of his mount.

When the others reached them Yang grinned at Jaune. "Wow Jauney boy. All you had to do was lift your shirt and you got Pyrrha and my little sis all over you huh?"

Jaune's face started turning red as he groaned. "They did this, not me. This was not my idea."

Sun sniggered into his hand at the sight of a blushing Jaune being attended to by two women. "Man, you got the ladies all over you huh?" He looked at Blake and wiggled his eyebrows. "You know, I might have cracked a rib too. Wanna check?"

Blake blushed and shoved him away, but Jaune could see a small smile on her face. "Shut up. You're fine," she muttered.

Nora giggled. "That looks fun! Can I help?" She leaned in and pressed her finger on his stomach, _hard._ She also managed to find the cracked rib.

Jaune yelped and shoved the ginger's hand away. "Two's enough," he said through gritted teeth, "but thanks Nora. Now do me a favor and _never_ do that again."

"We really need to talk about your bedside manner," Ren said to his partner. She huffed and crossed her arms indignantly.

Jaune looked around for Weiss and saw her a few feet away talking with Neptune, which immediately had him scowling. He listened in on the not so quiet conversation they were having.

"And that was so cool how you and your partner combined your lightning blasts and his semblance to take that Paladin apart!" Weiss was practically falling over Neptune, which left a pain in Jaune's chests that dwarfed his cracked rib.

"What can I say Snow Angel? Cool is just how I do things." Weiss giggled at that, which was almost enough to make Jaune stand up and smack Neptune upside the head. _That_ was the best the bluenette could come up with? Jaune could think of five different lines that would have been way better than that and she wouldn't have even cracked a smile, but _that_ made her laugh?

"It wasn't as cool as she's saying it is," Ruby whispered to him. "Watching you take on the Paladin by yourself was _way_ cooler than anything he did. You looked like a knight charging into battle to save the princess, like in the fairy tales my dad used to read to me." Her cheeks turned a bit red and she looked away from him. "I... you were really cool."

"You were," agreed Pyrrha. "I haven't seen such a sight in... ever, honestly. You and Talon did a considerable amount of damage to the Paladin before we even got there. Honestly I think that gaping hole the two of you left in its chest was the only reason Sun and Neptune's attack worked as well as it did."

Jaune sighed and leaned against Talon with his eyes closed. He was glad the others had acknowledged his and Talon's role in the fight, but was it too much to get at least a good job from Weiss? "Thanks guys," he said, then frowned as something occurred to him. "So how did Roman escape?"

It was Yang who answered him. "Some chick in white and pink showed up out of nowhere and teleported him away onto that Bullhead. I think I heard him call her Neo, or something."

Jaune grunted and opened his eyes as he heard a Bullhead come in for a landing. The craft swooped down and the hatch opened, and out jumped Nathaniel and Glydna. The two of them looked around until they saw Jaune and the others, and the scattered remains of the Paladin. The two teachers jogged over to them and stopped just shy of Jaune, who was still being poked by Ruby and Pyrrha. "What happened to you?" asked Nathaniel.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "It's just a cracked rib, but they think I'm hiding some other injury. Talon's got a broken wing though. We'll need another Bullhead for him."

Glynda pulled out her scroll and called the school. After a quick conversation she hung up an put away the device. "I've called in another Bullhead. It should be here soon." She turned her gaze onto Ruby and Pyrrha. "Girls. Stop poking Mr. Arc."

"Yes ma'am," they said in unison as they stopped poking him. Their fingers remained on his chest or abs however.

Professor Goodwitch sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Take your fingers _off_ of Mr. Arc."

"Yes ma'am." The two girls removed their hands from his chest and Jaune gratefully pulled his shirt down.

"Oh Mr. Nathaniel!" said Yang as she skipped up to him, "I think I might have gotten hurt too. Think you could check for me?" She winked at the knight, who stepped back and to the side, putting Glynda between himself and Yang.

"Miss. Xiao Long," growled Glynda with a death grip on her riding crop, "flirt with Sir Nathaniel one more time and you will have detention for a month. Is that understood?"

Yang gulped and took a step back. Even she didn't dare awaken the wrath of Goodwitch. "Yes ma'am."

Jaune smiled and patted Talon's side as his gaze passed over everyone present. The night certainly hadn't gone down the way any of them had expected, but Jaune had done fairly well all considering, even if his... secondary goal hadn't quite been achieved. He sighed as Neptune fed Weiss another cheesy one liner, which left her a blushing mess. Honestly, give him fighting the mech over having to watch the girl he had fallen for flirt with someone else any day...

The whine of an engine caught his attention as the second Bullhead swooped in. Jaune pushed himself up and leaned against his halberd. He patted Talon's flank as the big beast pushed himself up and walked over to the new Bullhead. "Come on, let's head to Beacon and get patched up."

* * *

 **Ah poor Jaune. The boy gets a kick ass new mount that flies and fights mechs and he still can't get the girl. Though anyone who's read my other story "The Vagabond" knows I just love to make my main characters suffer. This was the first time we've seen Jaune and Talon work together in a real fight. The only other time was at the docks, and that was less a fight than just cleaning up. I hope they were suitably awesome and hardcore without being OP. While they did do damage to the Paladin they were unable to take it out on their own. Considering that Cailan and Talon together could take down a dragon I figured that Jaune and Talon managing to hold their own against a Paladin was reasonable. Of course Jaune on his own wouldn't have stood a chance, but with Talon, a beast of war who's twice the height of a man, he was able to lay the smack down.**

 **Pyrrha and Ruby continue to pine after the boy even as he pines after Weiss, who's pining after neptune... man now all we need is Neptune crushing on Jaune and we'll have a rom com on our hands (no there will not be Noah's Arc in this. Don't even think about it. Also when I looked up the ship name for Jaune and Neptune I found a friggin _spreadsheet_ of RWBY ships. There are 424 RWBY ships! What the hell people?!)**

 **Well the sad thing about love is that there's usually a winner and a loser. Right now Jaune is currently in the loser bracket. Give our favorite blonde boy time though, he may pull it out in the end.**

 **As always if you liked this then please follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction then feel free to tell them about this fic! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to tell me what you think so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all! BBYYYEEEEEEEE!**


	9. Chapter 9

**HEEELLLLOOOOOO! I'm glad to see everyone enjoyed the last chapter, especially the battle of Jaune and Talon against the Paladin. I did my best to make it awesome, and I feel like I did a fairly good job with it. I like how a number of people sympathized with our blonde hero on his feelings for Weiss. I think it's safe to say that all of us, regardless of gender, have experienced unrequited love, so we can all sympathize with his plight more or less.**

 **Not much else to say except a big thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially gdvp111 who helped me out with some stuff that'll take place later.**

 **With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

Jaune frowned in concentration as he focused on Brillant Mors, willing energy to flow through his weapon. He knelt on the roof where he used to train with Pyrrha and clutched his halberd in both hands with the weapon laying across his knees. Every day for the past week Jaune had awoken before the dawn to come out to the roof and attempt to draw out the Lady's Light. He knew it was possible, as he had seen Nathaniel could do it with ease, having had been trained since he had been a little boy to fight for Vaya. Jaune didn't have this advantage, but both Nathaniel and Talon had told him that being Vaya's champion meant he had a natural affinity with Her Light, which meant he should be able to draw it out with only a couple months of training instead of the years it normally took.

Which was why Jaune was kneeling on the roof as he waited for the sun to rise. Nathaniel had told him that it was at the dawn that a Gryphon Knight's powers were at their greatest, and that at dawn his chances of successfully imbuing Brillant Mors with the Light would increase. At first Jaune had been skeptical, but over time he came to realize that when the sun rose he felt invigorated. When those first rays of light broke through the darkness Jaune could feel strength flowing into his limbs, confidence and levelheadedness flowing into his mind, and courage flowing into his heart. After about an hour this power faded back to normal levels, but he could understand what Nathaniel meant by the dawn bringing strength to a knight of the Order.

His eyes still closed Jaune smiled and took a deep breath in as he felt the first rays of the sun caress his face as a new day dawned. Immediately the grogginess he felt from waking up so early disappeared as though it had never existed as he breathed in deeply and focused on his halberd laying across his knees. Silently he bade Vaya's Light to come forth and give him the strength needed to combat the forces of darkness. He felt warmth like a mother's loving caress cloak his body, and when Jaune opened his eyes he looked at Brillant Mors. Ever so faintly the halberd was glowing with an inner white light, as were his armor plates. The glow was dim, and had he not been looking for it he wouldn't have even noticed it, but it was there. Jaune had successfully drawn out a small portion of the Lady's Light.

He smiled as the glow dissipated and pushed himself to his feet. He stretched his arms and took in a deep breath of crisp dawn air before turning around and walking back inside, whistling a little tune.

* * *

Weiss groaned as Jaune sat behind her with the rest his team. They were in the first year combat class, which was one of the few times Arc was actually with his team. "Hey guys, girls." She didn't have to turn around to know that he was smiling at her in that way that was so _damnably_ charming. "Hey Snow Angel. Miss me?"

She crossed her arms and refused to turn around. "You know I didn't, and stop calling me Snow Angel."

"Why? You let Neptune call you that, and I'm actually the one who used it first. If anyone should stop calling you that it's him."

She could detect the slightest bit of jealousy in his voice, but it was buried under that false confidence he put on. It _had_ to be false. No one got that confident in themselves as quickly as the blonde boy had without becoming completely arrogant, and as much as she disliked him she had to admit that he was anything but arrogant. He was the first to admit that he was still the weakest fighter between the members of both teams, and he never boasted about anything he did. Even after he had gone and battled Torchwick's Paladin on his own Jaune hadn't so much as brought it up, even though she knew he must have been dying to. He was probably just trying to seem humble in front of her. He probably talked his teammates ears off about it when she wasn't around. She'd ask the other members of JNPR after lunch when he wasn't around.

"Well Neptune is charming when he says it," she shot back, still refusing to look at him, "unlike you."

He laughed. "Sure. And you aren't blushing right now, which is why you refuse to look at me."

She grit her teeth, and tried to banish the pink tinge on her cheeks. Damn him for being so observant...

"No," she growled, "I've just been having a very pleasant day, and I don't want to have to ruin it by seeing you."

"Oh Snow Angel," he sighed dramatically, "why must you be so cold? Is it because deep, deep down in your heart there is a little, tiny bit of you that can't help but wonder just how wonderful of a boyfriend I'd be? Afraid I'd ruin all other men for you?" She heard him shift in his seat as he leaned a bit closer to her. Not close enough to invade her personal space, he didn't do that anymore, but close enough that she knew his entire focus on her. As though some outside force were acting on her Weiss turned to look at him against her will. When she turned she could see Pyrrha's stricken face as she watched Jaune shamelessly flirt with the heiress. She suspected Ruby's face probably looked fairly similar to Pyrrha's. However the azure eyes of the squire quickly grabbed her attention as he stared at her with something that she knew _couldn't_ be blatant adoration. "My beautiful Snow Angel," he crooned, "I give you my word that if I was yours you wouldn't have to worry about me ruining other men for you, because I would be the _only_ man you'd ever need." He smiled earnestly and sat back in seat as she felt her face turn a few shades of red darker. "And an Arc never goes back on his word darling."

Her heart beat reached an all time high, and her face was so red that she could have hidden it in Ruby's cape. "I- I...," she stammered, "I _hate_ you Arc!" she shouted and turned back to the front, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I know you do Snow Angel," he said so softly that she wasn't even sure she had been meant to hear it, "I know you do."

Weiss's eyes desperately darted around the room as she searched for Neptune. If she could convince him to come sit by her then maybe Jaune would stop saying things that made her heartbeat skyrocket, and the bluenette would _start_ saying them.

"Hey," Yang said as she bumped Weiss's shoulder, "even you have to admit that was good Weiss."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Weiss said defensively as she continued to scan for the object of her affections. Seriously, why was he so hard to find? She knew he was in here!

She could actually _hear_ Yang grinning maniacally. "Okay then. What about you two, Rubes? Pyrrha? Don't you guys think what Jaune said was sweet?"

Even if she had wanted to there was no way that Weiss could have made herself look away from what she knew what about to become a train wreck. She looked at Ruby, then at Pyrrha, both of whom were blushing madly. "I... Um... Well..." stammered the leader of RWBY. "I-it was really nice. Yeah."

Yang's grin doubled in size. "And what would you have done if he said that to you?"

Ruby didn't answer. Instead she yanked the hood of her cape down over her head and kept mumbling "I don't like him," to herself over and over again.

With one down and one to go Weiss watched as Yang turned her predatory gaze on Pyrrha, whose eyes were darting around the room as she desperately searched for a way out of her predicament. All the while Jaune simply stared on in befuddlement. He tapped Ruby on the shoulder. "Ruby? You okay?"

She jumped when his finger touched her shoulder. "Eep! Don't like- uh, I mean, I'm fine. Just a bit... hot. Yeah. It's just a bit hot in here and I'm trying to cool off."

"By pulling your hood over your head?" he asked. All the while Yang was whispering to Pyrrha, and though Weiss couldn't hear them she could tell by the growing blush on the champion's cheeks that the blonde bombshell was probably trying to talk her into asking Jaune out.

Weiss was on the edge of telling Jaune about Pyrrha and Ruby's feelings and just getting it over with when someone on the floor of the combat arena cleared their throat loud enough to be heard over the din of talking students. All other conversations forgotten, every student in the room turned to the front. Standing in the middle of the arena was Professor Goodwitch, and Jaune's mentor Nathaniel. "class has begun," she said simply as she pulled out her scroll and and triggered the random selection process that would determine who would be fighting in the first round of class. Two portraits appeared on the on the overhead hologram that displayed both the combatants and their aura reserves. Weiss's mouth dropped when she saw them, not sure if she was the luckiest or unluckiest girl in all of Remnant.

"Jaune Arc versus Neptune Vasilias."

"Wow," Jaune said, apparently just as surprised as she was, "I was starting to think I'd never get a fight." She heard him push himself up out of his seat. "Wish me luck guys."

"You'll do wonderfully," Pyrrha said earnestly.

"Break his legs!" shouted Nora.

"Fight well," advised Ren.

"Win one for teams Juniper and Ruby!" shouted Ruby.

"If you win, maybe Weiss will give you a kiss," teased Yang.

"As if!" shouted Weiss as her cheeks darkened. "Besides, without his Gryphon Jaune doesn't stand a chance against Neptune."

 _Finally_ Weiss could see the bluenette. He was on the other side of the room, just standing up to go change into his combat gear. Weiss noted with more than a little irritation that he had been sitting next to and talking to another girl, but she tried to squash those feelings. He was probably just being friendly.

Jaune stepped down the aisle until he was even with the row team RWBY sat on. He smirked at Weiss and leaned against his halberd. "Willing to bet on that darling?"

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are your terms?" She didn't believe for a second that Jaune could actually beat Neptune, but she wasn't willing to risk anything major on that.

"If I win, you have to give me one kiss on the cheek."

She scowled. "And when you lose?" she shot back.

He shrugged. "Whatever you want."

Whatever she wanted? Oh she knew how she was going to use that.

" _When_ you lose you have to stop flirting with me. No more nicknames, no more asking me out. In fact, you stop talking to me entirely unless you absolutely have to."

It was a steep bet she was putting forward, and she knew it, but she was counting on him being foolish enough to go through with it. He frowned, and that false bravado of his disappeared, but then it was back less than a second later. "You're on Snow Angel. Just remember your part of the deal when I win." He winked at her and walked down the steps towards the arena, his halberd slung over one shoulder as he used his free hand to ensure his armor was fitted properly.

"Weiss," whispered Ruby, "don't you think that was a bit much?"

"Please Ruby," scoffed Weiss, "do you know how long I've been trying to get him off my back? All my life boys have only ever been interested in my name and the money that comes with it. Jaune's hardly any different."

"What about Neptune?" asked Yang as she placed a hand over an indignant Pyrrha's mouth to stop the champion from saying something she might regret.

"Neptune _is_ different," retorted Weiss.

"Oh really? I think I know boys pretty well Ice Queen, and I can tell you with _confi_ _dence_ that Neptune isn't as special as you think."

"You just haven't given him a chance is all."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Weiss, you do remember that he was with me during our investigation right? He's sweet enough, but he's not all that bright, and he's a _total_ flirt. He tried to hit on two girls who worked at my friend's place."

"He was probably just being friendly," Weiss responded, a little less sure. "W-well what about Jaune?" she asked, eager to get the subject off of Neptune. "He flirts with me all the time."

"Exactly," said Nora as she leaned forward and poked Weiss's nose. Had it been anyone else Weiss would have been upset by the poke, but Nora... was Nora. "He flirts with _you_ Weiss. No one else, despite the fact that he's got just about every single girl in the school falling all over him. I don't think Jaune even really talks to other girls outside of our teams."

Pyrrha, who had managed to move Yang's hand away from her mouth, leaned forward too. "I think we've more or less given Neptune a chance Weiss. After all we did let him and Sun help against the Paladin. Didn't we Blake?" Blake, who hadn't taken her eyes off of whatever book she was reading the entire time, grunted in response. Pyrrha sighed and continued. "My point is that maybe _you_ need to give Jaune a chance Weiss. If you did you might see that he's _nothing_ like the other boys you've had to deal with in the past."

Weiss was taken aback by the challenge in Pyrrha's voice. The champion had never been the confrontational type, but there was something almost approaching anger in her voice. Though why was she helping Yang anyway? Wouldn't she be better of if Jaune _wasn't_ trying to flirt with Weiss? She was stopped from asking however, when Glynda's voice filtered up from the arena floor. "Combatants, are you ready?"

The seven teens turned back to the front. They had been so focused on their conversation that they hadn't realized that Neptune had already changed for the fight and returned. Weiss settled back in her seat confident in Neptune as Pyrrha, Nora, Yang, and Ruby started cheering for Jaune. The blonde and the bluenette stood across from each other with Glynda in between them. Both nodded that they were ready, and Glynda stepped back. "Begin!"

* * *

Jaune stepped back and allowed Neptune's first swing to whistle past his face, then stepped forward and jabbed at his opponent, forcing the bluenette to jump back. Jaune stepped forward and thrust again, then brought his halberd up and blocked Neptune's return swing with the haft of his weapon. The squire swung the axe head towards Neptune and just barely grazed his aura as the boy jumped back. The axe head hit the ground and split concrete as though it were rotten wood. Jaune wrenched his weapon free and thrust at Neptune again, who jumped back again and swung his guandao at Jaune, who raised his arm and took the blow on his vambrace. The impact jarred his arm, but Jaune grit his teeth and shoved the blade of Neptune's weapon away, which destabilized the bluenette's stance and left him open. Taking his chance the squire slammed the spearhead of Brillant Mors into the vulnerable stomach of Neptune, who doubled over and gasped as the air was driven out of his lungs. Jaune wrenched the weapon free and raised it with the intention of bringing the hammer head down on the exposed back of Neptune. Brillant Mors flew down towards Neptune, but at the very last moment he jumped back and the hammerhead of Brillant Mors slammed into the ground with enough force to shatter the concrete. Jaune looked up just as the guandao slammed into the side of his head with enough force to almost send Jaune to his knees, but the squire kept his feet and shook his head clear of dizziness, not even stunned by the blow. Neptune hit fairly hard, but that strike was nothing compared to the force Nathaniel put behind his own blows.

Jaune rushed towards Neptune, who yelped in surprise at Jaune's immediate recovery and backpedaled as Jaune advanced. If he could just get the bluenette up against the wall he would take victory...

Neptune seemed to realize what Jaune was trying to accomplish, and at the very last second he jumped to the side as Jaune's halberd slammed into the wall instead of Neptune. Jaune turned to follow Neptune, and immediately tried to scramble out of the way as Neptune aimed his weapon, now in rifle form, at Jaune and pulled the trigger.

Jaune snarled in pain as the bolt of electricity hit him and froze him up. He tried to move, but his nerves refused to respond. The squire's eyes widened as he watched Neptune's weapon light up as he charged another shot, and with a shout of pain Jaune _forced_ his body to roll to the side as another bolt passed by his head, missing by only inches. Again and again Jaune just barely moved out of the way of another bolt of electricity, but he knew he couldn't keep it up forever. At range Neptune had every advantage, and was quicker and more agile than the squire. However Jaune knew he was stronger and could take more damage than Neptune, and knew how to use that to his advantage.

He waited until Neptune's weapon was charged again, then charged directly at him, . The bolt of electricity hit Jaune, as he knew it would, and and sent shocks all throughout his body, but Jaune doggedly charged towards Neptune and ignored the pain lancing through his body. The bluenette's eyes widened in shock as Jaune charged through the pain and rammed the spearhead of Brillant Mors into his stomach again. Still charging Jaune drove Neptune before him and with a roar raised the edge of his weapon and lifted Neptune with it, suspending the Haven student two feet in the air on his weapon as he continued to charge forward, and then _slammed_ him into the wall of the ring, pinning Neptune in place. He pulled his weapon back and let the boy fall to the floor and gasp for air as he looked at the board displaying both their auras. "Wow," Jaune muttered to himself as he saw Neptune's aura. The boy was just outside the red. One more solid blow from Brillant Mors would not only knock him into the red, thereby securing victory, but almost certainly drain all of Neptune's remaining aura. However that also meant that if he hit him too hard Jaune would run the risk of really hurting the boy. Jaune wanted to win, especially considering the cost of losing, but he didn't want to actually hurt Neptune.

He dropped Brillant Mors on the ground and marched towards the bluenette, who was pushing himself to his feet and shakily raising his own weapon, now back in its guandao form. He swung weakly at Jaune, who grabbed the weapon by the haft and wrenched it out of Neptune's hands. He flung it aside, grabbed Neptune by the collar, and pinned him to the wall. Jaune pulled his arm back, curled his free hand into a fist, and smashed it into Neptune's face once, then released him and stepped back as the lights in rest of the arena came back on and a loud buzzing filled the air.

"The match is over!" shouted Glynda, who sounded more than a bit surprised by the outcome, "Jaune Arc is the victor!"

Jaune picked up Neptune's weapon and held it out to him as the bluenette stumbled to his feet and shook his head to clear the dizziness. "Thanks," he said as he took the weapon from Jaune, "man, you hit _hard_ , even without your weapon."

"I'm not the only one," said Jaune as he pointed at their auras, which were still displayed on the board, "if you had hit just one more time with a lightning blast this fight would have gone a lot differently." Indeed Neptune's shots had done a number on Jaune's aura, which was well below the three quarters mark. That Jaune could take a missile at point blank range and still have some small measure of aura left attested to just how powerful Neptune's weapon was, and how good the bluenette was with it.

Neptune grinned at Jaune. "Thanks. That means a lot coming from someone as famous as you."

Jaune looked away and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well... don't mention it, alright? I didn't ask for all this attention. I'd prefer to pretend I wasn't popular." Though that was kind of hard when a number of students were holding up signs that ranged from _"Go Jaune!"_ to girls' scroll numbers.

Neptune laughed and shrugged. "Whatever you say man, though if I were you I'd be using my new found fame," he pointed at one of the girls holding up a sign and winked at Jaune, "if you know what I mean."

Jaune turned to hide his scowl as he knelt to pick up Brillant Mors. He knew what Neptune meant alright, but that didn't mean he approved of Neptune flirting with other girls and effectively leading Weiss along, who honestly thought he was interested solely in her. Jaune didn't dislike Neptune, but if he broke Weiss's heart he and Neptune would be having a talk, and it wouldn't be a pleasant one for the bluenette. "Let's just get our evaluations from the teachers," he said without turning around, "I need a shower to wash off the smell of ozone."

The two boys walked over to Professor Goodwitch and Sir Nathaniel and waited for both teachers to evaluate them. Naturally Glynda spoke first. "Mr. Vasilias, you showed that you're capable of adapting to your foe and keeping them at range when your weapon in it's melee form won't be sufficient. However when your opponent does something you do not expect you freeze up, which leaves you open to a counter attack. Your human opponents often won't react the way you think they will, and older Grimm can be intelligent enough to adapt to a situation. You must learn to react immediately to anything your opponent throws at you. Even the wrong reaction is better than no reaction at all." She turned her attention to Jaune. "As for you Mr. Arc, you understood your strengths and weaknesses as well as the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent, and used that to your advantage, putting Mr. Vasilias into a situation where your greater strength and aura reserves gave you the advantage you needed to win. However your methods are crude. The way you fight is self destructive, and if you're not careful you could suffer permanent damage simply because you chose to block or take a strike instead of simply avoiding it. Should you find yourself in a situation where you can choose to avoid or take a blow, _always_ choose to avoid, understood?"

Jaune shrugged and looked away, trying to ignore the fact that his left arm was still spasming from the bolts he had taken. "Yes ma'am," he muttered.

Next it was Nathaniel's turn to speak. "I don't have much to say that Mrs. Goodwitch hasn't said already Vasilias. You're adaptable, but you freeze up when something you don't expect happens. Fix that, or you're a dead man. You understand me?"

Jaune couldn't help but smile as Neptune's mouth dropped. Most people weren't ready for the extremely direct approach that Nathaniel took in teaching. Indeed it had taken Jaune a couple weeks to get acclimated to it. "Uh... y-yes sir," stammered Neptune.

"Good," he turned and pointed at Jaune, "as for you boy, what was your first mistake?"

Jaune ran the battle through his head. "When I let Neptune get out of my reach and use his weapon's rifle form against me."

"And _why_ was that a mistake?"

"Because my weapon isn't mechashift and I don't have a ranged option."

"Precisely. Brillant Mors can't change forms, which means as far as durability goes its got every other student's weapon beat, but almost everyone in here can take you on at long range, which is where you're weak. You either need to make sure they can't get to range, or failing that close the gap, which I will admit you did manage to do reasonably well. However you should have known better than to take a shot from a lightning gun while wearing _plate armor_. Don't think I don't see the way your arm is shaking boy. Go to the nurse, and make sure there's no permanent nerve damage."

"Yes sir," Jaune said and turned around and walked to the stairs. He slung Brillant Mors over his back and rubbed his still jittering arm, hoping the annoying tingling feeling would go away soon. As he walked up the stairs and ignored all of the people telling him good job (and girls asking him for his number) he looked up and saw his friends cheering for his first victory. Well, most of them. Ren was simply clapping, Blake was still reading, and Weiss had attempted to stand up and walk away, but had been stopped by Yang's arm around her neck. The heiress was blushing furiously as she tried to look everywhere except at Jaune, no doubt thinking about that kiss on the cheek she now owed him. Jaune sighed and shook his head. As much as he wanted to, and he _really_ wanted to, he wasn't about to make Weiss go through with their bet. If she was ever going to kiss him then Jaune wanted it to be because she wanted to, not because she had to.

Pyrrha leaped up out of her seat and rushed Jaune, wrapping him in a tight hug which he returned with both arms. At least he was pretty sure he did. His left arm had stopped shaking, but he couldn't actually _feel_ it anymore. Jaune was pretty sure that wasn't good, but he currently had bigger problems than possible paralysis. Specifically he had to go through with the heart wrenching task of telling Weiss that she didn't have to kiss him. "Congratulations!" exclaimed Pyrrha, "I knew you could do it!"

"Thanks Pyrrha," he said, then broke off the hug with a pat on her shoulder.

"That was awesome!" shouted Nora as she mimed thrusting with an invisible halberd. "I mean you didn't break his legs, but the way you picked him up on the end of your weapon and pinned to the wall like a stuck piglet was _hardcore_!"

Jaune and Pyrrha took a step back from Nora as everyone else leaned away from her. Jaune was fairly used to her eccentricities by now, but sometimes she still managed to both shock and occasionally horrify him. "Uh... thanks Nora. Remind me to never let you touch anything sharp ever again. I'd prefer that you don't pin anything or anyone to a wall."

"You did really good," Ruby said excitedly, "you've gotten a lot better since Forever Fall Forest."

Yang still had Weiss in a headlock. "Not bad lover boy," said his fellow blonde. She released Weiss from her headlock. "Ready to claim your prize?"

Weiss's face grew even redder and she refused to look at him. Jaune knew that if he forced the issue she would honor the bet, but he knew that it would cause potentially irreparable damage to their relationship. He laughed and shrugged. "Actually, I'm calling the bet off. You don't have to kiss me Snow Angel. I was just joking."

That got her attention. She looked up from the floor at him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why?" she asked, clearly expecting a catch.

 _"Because your happiness means more to me than anything I want for myself."_

He wished he could just come out and say that. Just tell her how crazy he was about her, but he couldn't. Not in front of so many people, not when his confession would embarrass her publicly. So instead he smiled and winked at her. "I was just messing with you Snow Angel. Can't a guy have a little fun?"

Weiss stared at him open mouthed, probably trying to think of a response to that and being thankful that he hand't pushed the issue. She was saved from answering however when Nathaniel shouted at him from the arena floor. "Boy! Nurse's office! Now!"

Jaune sighed. "Yes sir!" he shouted back with a smile. "Gotta go guys. I'll be back in a few minutes." He walked up the stairs and exited combat class, turning down the hallway and heading towards the nurse's office. When he was absolutely certain there was no one around he let the grin fall of his face as and his shoulders slumped. Weiss's words rang in his head.

 _"I hate you Arc!"_

Did... did she really hate him? Or had she just said that because he'd made her get all flustered? Had his flirting gone so far that she felt real animosity for him? He didn't know, but the thought that she legitimately disliked him, or completely _hated_ him...

It scared Jaune.

Feeling was beginning to return to Jaune's arm. Deciding that as long as he could feel his arm and it wasn't shaking life a leaf in a hurricane he was fine, Jaune made a detour and instead headed towards his team's dorm room. When he got there he laid his halberd on his bed and picked up the Angel's rose. Jaune took meticulous care of it, always ensuring that it was well watered and tended to. On the nights when he couldn't sleep, which was every other night, he would stare at the rose as it shined like a gem in the moonlight, letting its soothing glow wash away all his worries as he thought about the look on Weiss's when he gave it to her.

It had to be soon. He had to give her this and ask her to the dance as soon as possible, but when was the right time? Probably not at any point today. She'd probably still be feeling awkward about the bet, which meant that if he asked her today she might think that she would have to because of the bet. He couldn't risk that. He had to be sure that she accepted because she _wanted_ to, because she knew how much he cared about her. "Tomorrow," he said to himself as he gently caressed the petals with one hand, "I'll ask her tomorrow." By tomorrow she would hopefully be over her embarrassment of losing the bet, and wouldn't feel indebted to him because he had called it off. Tomorrow evening after dinner he would walk across the hall with the Angel's Rose to team RWBY's dorm, knock on the door, and ask to see Weiss. If she refused then he would just continue asking until she agreed to see him. Then he would show her the rose, tell her how much she meant to him, and ask her to the dance. If she said yes, then Jaune would be the luckiest guy on earth. If she said no... then that was it. He would leave her alone. He would stop flirting with her, stop trying to gain her affections. Hopefully she would eventually like him enough to consider him a friend, but he wouldn't try to force his way back into her life. He sighed as he put the Angel's Rose back on the vanity and rubbed his forehead. "Tomorrow then," he muttered, "tomorrow will either be the happiest day of my life, or one of the worst."

* * *

Jaune got back into combat class just in time to watch Pyrrha take on some grey haired guy whose name was Mercury, or something like that. Naturally the guy didn't stand a chance, and he seemed to realize that as he surrendered before the fight had gone on for more than a couple minutes. Apparently while he had been gone she had fought team CRDL and completely taken them apart without receiving so much as a scratch in return. Jaune would have paid lien to see that, but Nora had recorded the whole thing, and promised that she would let him see it later. The match between Pyrrha and Mercury had been the last fight of the class, and as the bell rang for lunch he walked out with his teammates and the members of RWBY, chatting with them but making sure he didn't flirt with Weiss. Judging by the fact that she hadn't even sent a veiled insult his way when he had rejoined the rest of them Jaune guessed that she was probably embarrassed about the bet, so he figured it would be best if he didn't bother her.

As he was asking Pyrrha about her battle against team CRDL he saw someone approaching him out of the corner of his eye. He turned to get a proper look at who it was, and saw with some surprise that it was Cinder. She was staring directly at him, which left no doubt in his mind about why she was headed in their direction. He turned back to Pyrrha and the others. "You guys go on without me alright? I'll see you at lunch."

Pyrrha looked past him and saw Cinder making her way over to them. Confusion turned to concern as she turned her eyes back to him. "Jaune, are you sure?"

He smiled. "I'm sure. I remember what you guys told me that night she introduced herself, okay? I'll be polite, but I won't let her try to seduce me again." Though at the time Jaune had been awestruck by Cinder's beauty his teammates had pointed out that Cinder was at the end of the day just another fan girl after his fame. As much as he'd like to think that someone like Cinder would like him for himself, he knew the others were right. He grinned goofily and rapped his knuckles against the side of his head. "Us guys sometimes think with the head on our shoulders instead of the one between our legs you know. I'll be fine."

Pyrrha laughed and punched his shoulder, which no longer toppled him like it once had. "Alright, but be sure to make it quick if you want any food. You know how much Nora can eat."

"I'll be quick," he promised and started making his way towards Cinder. The raven haired girl's eyes lit up with something that both turned Jaune on and made him very wary. She knew she had an amazing body, and he knew from experience that she knew how to use it to get what she wanted. "Hey Cinder," he said when he reached her. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on your win," she said with a smile, "You took that Neptune boy apart."

Jaune shrugged, "I did okay, but Neptune wasn't bad either. Had he gotten one more good hit on me that match would have gone to him."

"Hmmm... perhaps," she said as she started twirling a finger in her hair, "but you won, and he lost, so you deserve to be congratulated on your victory."

"Thanks," he said a bit too hastily, "so was that all, or did you want something?"

Her smile turned absolutely seductive, and Jaune bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself grounded in reality. _"Focus Jaune!"_

"There are _many_ things I want," she purred, "but right now there are two main things that I want. The first is to be sure that you're alright. I saw you get hit by those lighting bolts during your match, and your arm twitching afterwards." She placed a finger on his left arm through the gap between his vambrace and pauldron, as though to check that it was no longer twitching. The touch on his bare skin was enough to make warmth flood his body and fill his very soul. "I wanted to be sure you weren't still in pain, and if you were to help... _alleviate_ that pain."

 _"Focus Jaune focus Jaune focus Jaune focus Jaune focus Jaune focus Jaune..."_

 _"I wanted to be sure you weren't still in pain, and if you were to help... alleviate that pain."_

 _"FOCUS ON SOMETHING ELSE JAUNE."_

He coughed awkwardly into the crook of his arm and looked away from the seductress before him _who wouldn't move her freaking finger._ "I-I'm fine," he said with a shaky laugh. "It stopped shaking like an hour ago, so I'm fine! Totally fine..."

She laughed, a sound that made bird song sound like the screeching of nails on a chalkboard in comparison. "Well I'm glad to hear that. As for the second thing I want..." she removed her hand from Jaune's arm, which he was both grateful for and wished she would put it back. "I hear that the Vytal Festival Ball is only a couple weeks away. If you don't already have a date arranged then perhaps you could do me the honor of accompanying me? I typically don't go to dances, but Vytal festival _is_ about unity between the kingdoms, and what could be more unifying than a huntsman in training and a huntress in training from different schools going together?"

He gulped and glanced back at his friends as they made their way to the cafeteria. Specifically he glanced at a certain white haired heiress. "Um, sorry Cinder, but I'm already planning on asking someone else."

Cinder smiled knowingly. "Have you already asked her?"

"Well not yet, but- h-hey! What are you doing?" Cinder's hand had darted forward and plucked his scroll out of his pocket. She opened it, started typing on the screen, then after a few seconds gave it back to Jaune. Jaune looked at what she had put into his scroll. "Your contact info? Why?"

Another smile, this one definitely intended to be seductive. She reached a hand up and brushed his blonde locks out of his face. Jaune unwillingly shivered in pleasure at the touch. One part of him wanted to push her hand away, but another much larger and hormonal part of him didn't want to do a damn thing, so he simply stood there. Her fingers traveled down his face and came to rest beneath his chin, where she traced a circle with her index finger. "It's no secret that you pine after the Schnee heiress. The girl would be a fool to turn you down, but if she does..." the finger trailed down his chin, then his neck, and came to a stop on his collarbone. She slowly traced the groove of his collarbone with her finger, then leaned in close to Jaune and whispered, "then call me. I assure you that I will be available."

With that her finger left his body and she turned and walked away from him, leaving Jaune to stare dumbly at her as she walked away from him. Somehow he managed to force himself to turn away from her and walk towards the cafeteria, his mind a jumble of emotions. So engrossed was Jaune in his own thoughts that he didn't notice that Talon had swooped down and landed next to him until the Gryphon spoke. _"I want you to know that watching you trying to resist mating with that woman then and there was one of the most amusing things I have ever seen, and I once watched Cailan attempt to dance while drunk."_

Jaune jumped as his Grpyphon's words cut through the jumble of thoughts and emotions flooding his mind. He blushed and scratched the back of his head. _"How much did you see?"_

 _"Enough,"_ responded the Gryphon smugly, _"I happened to be returning from the Emerald Forest, having just had a very nice lunch of deer and a couple rabbits, when I saw a woman with her hand all over my rider. Naturally I was curious, so I landed nearby and listened in. She seems_ very _interested in you."_

 _"She's only after me for my fame. I know she's hot, trust me I_ know _, but that doesn't mean she likes me for me."_

The Gryphon shrugged as they continued walking. _"Perhaps, but what of it? You're a young handsome man with a long life ahead of you. You don't have to marry right away. In fact Cailan didn't settle down until he was in his mid thirties. Before then he left quite the trail of broken hearts and wooed women behind him. Who's to say you don't have every right to enjoy your youth while you have it?"  
_

Jaune scowled, _"I don't want to leave a trail of broken hearts. I don't want to break anyone's heart! Maybe this sounds weird for a guy my age, but I just want to find a nice girl, settle down, and just be happy with them, especially considering the fact that in ten years the world could be thrown into chaos at literally any moment. Can I really be blamed for wanting to have a family in case the worst should happen to me?"_

Jaune could feel the amusement emanating from Talon. _"Is the Schnee girl the one you want to settle down with?"_

Jaune's face turned red. _"I mean... yeah I'd like that, but it's not like I've thought that far ahead about her. I'm not thinking about marrying her or anything, but if I don't at least try then I'll never know if I could have something more with Weiss."_

 _"Exactly,"_ said the Gryphon, _"If you don't try you'll never know what could have been. Pursue the heiress if you want, but should that fail the raven haired girl is clearly interested in you. Who knows? Perhaps she is the one you will settle down with."_ With that Talon spread his wings and took to the sky, leaving Jaune on the ground with all of his problems. Not for the first time Jaune wished he had wings so he could fly away from all of his problems, but he didn't, and he couldn't, so he had to take them head on like they were a charging Boarbatusk.

With a world weary sigh Jaune went to push open the doors of the cafeteria, but jumped back as the doors were flung open by a mob of fleeing students. Jaune barely managed to leap aside as they ran past him in a panic. When the mob had passed Jaune looked inside, wondering what on earth could have happened to make so many students flee in terror. When he saw he groaned and set Brillant Mors in the corner, then picked up an obscenely long piece of french bread, which he dubbed Bread Mors 2.

Nora cackled madly as she picked up a table and flung it at team RWBY minus Blake, who dodged to either side as it when flying past. Jaune couldn't help but smile as he lowered his breadberd and charged headlong into the fray.

* * *

 **Lotta things happened in this chapter! We see Jaune fight another student for the first time in this fic, and boy was it a fight! I hope it didn't seem like Jaune absolutely thrashed Neptune or anything like that. I wanted to make it clear that it was a close match, but Jaune's aggressiveness, strength, determination, and ability to flip the bird at his pain receptors enabled him to pull out the victory. I'm not trying to make Jaune OP here. He took his fair share of damage, and it was never truly in his favor until he landed that final blow where he pinned Neptune to the wall.**

 **Originally I was going to have Jaune fight Yang, but I realized that there was just no feasible way for Jaune to beat her on his own without making him OP, which I don't want to do. I wondered who would be a good opponent for Jaune that would be a challenge, but he could still realistically defeat. At first I thought I might have to create a throwaway OC just for the fight, but then it hit me: Neptune. Neptune's weapon is also a pole arm, but it also has a long range lightning form, which would be very effective against Jaune's plate armor. He's also Jaune's romantic rival, though the bluenette doesn't realize that Jaune also likes Weiss. He was a perfect opponent for Jaune here.**

 **I feel like a lot of times it seems like I'm bashing Neptune or that I don't like him, but in reality that's not the case. I like Neptune's character, especially how he interacts with Sun, but considering how this fic is mostly seen from Jaune's perspective he's going to have a less than favorable outlook on the guy who just swooped in and stole the heart of his crush like it was nothing. However Jaune doesn't necessarily dislike Neptune as a person. As a love rival, definitely, but not as a person, which I tried to make clear here. He didn't try to humiliate or degrade Neptune in the fight, and he didn't boast about his win afterwards, nor did he do any damage to Neptune that he didn't have to in order to win the fight.**

 **Writing Weiss's POV here was... a little tricky. I tried my best to stick to canon Weiss as much as possible while making certain deviations, such as her actually blushing and reacting to Jaune's flirts due to the fact that in this he's a lot more suave than he is in the actual show. I tried to show that while she admits to herself that Jaune's words and actions do get to her she refuses to acknowledge him because she fears he's like every other man who's just after her name and the power and wealth associated with it. As for why she does have feelings for Neptune... I didn't even try to mess with the why of it. I'm a guy, so girls are _very_ confusing to me. All I did was simply role with the fact that she does like him and just work with that.**

 **We also see just how deeply Jaune's feelings for Weiss go. I feel like that Jaune's feelings here actually run deeper than they do in the actual show, and I think that's because this new Jaune knows of the coming threat, which has made him cherish the ones he loves even more, and thus makes his romantic feelings for Weiss grow into something beyond simple puppy love. I'm not saying it's crossed the line into actual love or anything like that. It hasn't gone that far yet, but he is determined to let her know how he feels, even if he's afraid that she might actually hate him.**

 **Cinder made a reappearance in this chapter, and she is cranking up the seduction! She made some serious moves on Jaune, and Talon unknowingly advised Jaune to fraternize with the enemy. The Gryphon means well of course, and if Cinder wasn't totally evil he'd have some very good points.**

 **I know that in the actual show Blake has some major issues going on during all of this, but I just couldn't think of a way to bring them up here without it feeling awkward and forced. All of y'all should have seen all of volume 2 by now anyway (if you haven't what are you doing here? Go binge watch all of RWBY like right now. Your lord commands it) so all of you knows what happens with Blake and Yang talking some sense into her. In other words I really shouldn't have to cover that bit too much.**

 **As always please follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfictions then feel free to tell them about this story! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYYEEEEEEEEEEE!**


	10. Chapter 10

**HEEEEELLLLLOOOOOOOO! I seem to have gotten into one of those moods where I'm working on a story and just can't slow down, which is why I have yet to work on the next chapter for "The Vagabond" (I really need to) so here's chapter ten of Jaune Arc, Gryphon Knight! Now at the moment fanfiction is doing that annoying thing where it says people have left reviews, but I can't actually see them, so if you've left a review on the last chapter I haven't seen it yet. Rest assured I'm checking very regularly to see if they've fixed the problem because I love reading all of the reviews you guys leave, so don't let that stop you from leaving another review on this chapter too.**

 **Without further ado, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

Jaune stumbled under Nathaniel's blow as he hastily brought Brillant Mors up to block the strike, then stepped back and thrust at Nathaniel. The knight sidestepped Jaune's thrust with ease and slammed the hammerhead of his own halberd into Jaune's stomach, doubling the squire over the weapon. The air was driven out of Jaune as he collapsed to the floor, coughing and gasping for air _"why do I always get hit in the stomach or face?"_

 _"Probably because they're one of the few places on your body where you have no armor,"_ responded Talon as he watched Nathaniel and Jaune spar. Well, spar was a bit too strong of a word for what was taking place. It was more like Nathaniel was pounding Jaune into the dirt.

The squire pushed himself to his feet and raised Brillant Mors, but Nathaniel pushed the visor of his helmet up. "Enough. You're clearly distracted Jaune. Is something wrong?"

Jaune lowered his halberd and shrugged. "It's nothing major. I can keep going."

"Major or not, whatever it is clearly has you distracted. What's wrong? Have you been getting enough sleep?" Nathaniel removed his helmet and tossed a water bottle to Jaune, who caught it and took a swig. Actually he hadn't been getting enough sleep, but that wasn't the issue he was dealing with today.

"It's... well you'll probably think it's stupid," Jaune said as he wiped a few stray droplets off his lips, "but it's... about a girl."

Nathaniel stared at Jaune, who was sure he was about to get the chewing out of a lifetime for worrying over something so inconsequential when he was supposed to be training to become the Knight-Lord. What came out of Nathaniel's mouth was anything but a chewing out. "Wait, you're having girl problems too?"

Jaune's mouth dropped as Talon roared with laughter in his head. "Wait wait wait," Jaune said, " _you're_ having girl problems? Who? How? Wait, is it Yang? Did she sneak into your room again?"

"Nothing like that," Nathaniel said, "It's... Mrs. Goodwitch. This may shock you, but I may have-"

"A crush on Mrs. Goodwitch?" interrupted Jaune.

Nathaniel's eyes widened. "You could tell?"

Jaune laughed, "with all due respect, it's a bit obvious. I mean, I don't think anyone else knows, but I spend so much time with you that it's easy for me to tell."

Nathaniel looked completely befuddled. "So you can tell that I have romantic feelings for Glynda, but you can't tell that Ruby and Pyrrha... never mind."

Jaune frowned. "What about Ruby and Pyrrha?"

"Nothing," Nathaniel said, "my point is, I want to ask her to the Vytal festival ball, but I'm not sure how to, and I don't exactly have any formal wear..."

Jaune smiled. He knew that Glynda probably returned Nathaniel's feelings. He saw those little glances she shot at him when she thought no one was looking. "Just ask her. I'll be shocked if she doesn't say yes. As for formal wear... I guess you could rent a tux."

Nathaniel frowned in confusion. "A tux?"

"It's like a formal suit worn to dances. I need to get one too, so does Ren. Maybe the three of us can go together to get our tuxes."

Nathaniel nodded. "I see... I think. But that aside, what about _your_ girl troubles? I assume this is about the Schnee girl?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head. "Yeah... I'm planning on asking her to the dance this evening, and I'm just nervous. I was an absolute wreck at breakfast and lunch today. I barely managed to stop myself from asking her then and there."

"You're afraid she'll turn you down?" guessed Nathaniel.

"I am," Jaune admitted, "I've been crazy over her ever since I saw her, and I just want her to know how I feel. I know she probably won't return my feelings, but I just... I _can't_ keep it bottled up anymore. For better or worse, I have to tell her how I _really_ feel."

Nathaniel nodded in understanding. "I can't really help you with women Jaune, but I think she would be a fool to turn you down. If you tell her how you feel, how you really feel, then I think that, if even a small part of her returns those feelings, she'll agree to go to the dance with you. Who knows? It may become something more. You won't know until you try."

 _"That's my line,"_ Talon huffed and shook his mane irritably.

Nathaniel glanced at the Gryphon as he shook himself. "What's Talon's problem?"

"Nothing," Jaune laughed.

"I'm sure," Nathaniel said dryly, then slung his halberd over his back. "I think we're both a bit too distracted to continue sparring today. Why don't we skip to the work out early and blow off some steam?"

Jaune smiled gratefully and slung his Brillant Mors over his back as the two went to go change clothes. "I'd like that."

* * *

Nathaniel gulped in fear as he raised his hand to knock on Glynda's door, then lowered it and looked over himself one more time. His armor was freshly polished, the helmet tucked under one arm, and gleamed in the light of the bulbs illuminating the hallway. His beard was trimmed and brushed, as was his hair, and he had bathed, then bathed again to be _sure_ he smelled clean. He wished he had something else to wear than his armor that would be suitable, but all of his other clothes consisted of t-shirts and bluejeans, hardly appropriate attire to wear while asking a woman to the ball.

"You can do this Nathaniel," he muttered. He raised his hand to knock on the door...

Then lowered it. "You are a Gryphon Knight man, come on! You have battled the creatures of Grimm and came out victorious on numerous occasions! How can this be more terrifying than that?"

He took a deep breath, let it out, then raised his hand and knocked on the door once, then twice. He stood there, trying to force his breathing to even out and his heartbeat to slow down when the door opened, and their stood Glynda in all her glory. "Can I help- oh! Nathaniel, it's you. Can I help you?"

She was still in her work outfit, which meant that she must have been grading papers. Nathaniel gulped and straightened up, trying to force the words out of his mouth. "Goodwitch, erm, I mean Mrs. Glynda, I mean, um, Glynwitch, I..." he sighed and slumped as the words he wanted to say got completely jumbled up in his head

She smiled and brought up a hand to cover her mouth as she laughed. "Is something the matter Nathaniel?" she asked kindly, but the knight could see the amusement in her eyes behind her glasses.

 _"Besides my sheer inability to talk to you? Nothing's the matter. By Vaya, this would be so much easier if she wasn't so beautiful..."_

"Well... Glynda, I was wondering if, that is if you are not otherwise occupied, you would do me the honor of allowing me to accompany you to the dance?" There. He'd said it. He'd put all his cards on the table. Now he just have to see how she would react.

Glynda started laughing, and Nathaniel's soul fell. He'd completely ruined his chances with her by stammering, and now she was going to-

"Nathaniel, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to ask me that! I would love to accompany you to the dance."

Nathaniel's soul soared and he felt like little explosions (what were they called? Fireworks?) were going off in his head. "R-really?" he asked, hardly able to believe his luck. "A-are you sure? I wouldn't want you to think you have to just because we're coworkers and-"

His rambling was stopped by a soft finger on his lips. Glynda smiled and removed her finger from his lips, and Nathaniel battled the urge to take her hand and kiss it. "Nathaniel, I assure you that if I didn't want to go with you I wouldn't have said yes. I would love to go with you." She looked him up and down. "I assume you have something other than your armor to wear that would be suitable for a ball?"

"Well, nothing quite yet," he admitted, "but Jaune, his friend Ren, and I were going to go to Vale at some point this week to rent tuxes."

She smiled and tapped her lips, as though she were pondering something. "Actually, I think I might have a better idea than tuxes for you and Mr. Arc. Do you know your measurements and his as well?"

"I do. I needed them when I was making him his armor."

"In that case get changed into some normal clothes, and meet me in front of the school. We're going to Vale, and we're going to have a talk with my personal tailor."

* * *

Jaune tightened the straps on his breastplate, then checked himself in the mirror. His armor was so polished he could see himself in the white metal. Brillant Mors had gotten the same treatment, and was gleaming as though Jaune had summoned Vaya's Light. He had showered, then showered again and put on just the smallest bit of an expensive cologne he had gone out and bought a week ago for this very occasion.

This was it. He was going to go across the hall and ask Weiss Schnee to allow him to accompany her to the dance.

He took a deep breath in, let it out, then did a final check to ensure that none of his armor straps were too loose or too tight. He turned to his teammates, who were looking at him expectantly. He grinned and slung Brillant Mors across his back. "Wish me luck guys!" He walked to the door and took the doorknob in his grasp...

* * *

Weiss checked her hair in the mirror one more time. Her side ponytail was perfect, and her tiara was polished until it shined like a star under the light. She had showered twice and put on a small measure of perfume. She was perfect.

This was it. She was going to ask Neptune Vasilias to accompany her to the dance, and when he said yes that she would have the one she wanted, and Jaune Arc's lies would finally stop making her heart speed up and her cheeks flush with color.

She took a deep breath in, then let it out, then did a final check to ensure there were no unseemly creases in her skirt. She turned to her teammates, who were looking at her expectantly. She smiled and nodded. "Wish me luck girls!" She walked to the door and took the doorknob in her grasp, then stepped out into the hall and headed towards the exchange students dorms.

* * *

"Jaune, wait!"

Jaune took his hand off of the doorknob and turned to face his partner. "What's up Pyrrha?"

She stared at him for a few seconds. Jaune saw something in her eyes that troubled him. She looked... defeated. But she smiled and held something out in her hands. "You almost forgot this." In her hands was the potted Angel's Rose.

Jaune eyes widened in fear as he carefully took the rose from Pyrrha. He had very nearly forgotten the rose! If that had happened then his whole plan would have gone up in smoke. He wrapped the hand that wasn't holding the rose around and pulled her in for a hug. "Thanks Pyrrha! I don't know what I'd do without you." He opened the door and stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

When the door shut Pyrrha sank down onto her bed, and her hands fell in her face as the tears began to pour down her cheeks. Nora and even Ren came over and wrapped their arms around the champion. "It's okay Pyrrha," Nora said gently, "even the invincible girl can't win em all."

* * *

It was only a couple of steps to team RWBY's dorm, but it felt like it was a mile. He checked his armor one last time, then knocked on the door.

A few seconds later Ruby opened the door. "Hey Jaune! What's up?"

"Hey Ruby. Can I talk to Weiss? I need to ask her something."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh... um... she's actually not here. She's headed towards the exchange student's dorms. But Jaune, she-"

"Thanks Ruby!" he shouted as he took off down the hall at a jog. This was perfect! She would be totally alone with no one to interrupt them or distract her. He would never have a better chance to ask her to the dance.

* * *

Weiss suppressed the urge to giggle like a little girl as she headed down walkway towards the exchange students' dorms. She was so excited that she had to resist the urge to skip down the walkway. She was just outside the dorms, a few more steps and she would be at the entrance...

She was shocked out of her thoughts by the sight of a familiar head of blue hair rounding the corner ahead of her. There he was! She wouldn't even have to go into the dorms! She would be able to ask him under the light of the moon. How romantic was that? She hurried her pace and rounded the corner. Sure enough the blue haired object of her affections was walking ahead of her, unaware that his Snow Angel was right behind him. "Neptune!" she called.

* * *

Finally he could see her. She was making her way down the walkway towards the exchange students dorm. As always she looked absolutely radiant. Her whole body seemed to glow in the moonlight, just like how the Angel's Rose, _her_ rose, was doing under the light of the moon. He sped up his walking pace, slowly gaining ground on her. He was fifty feet away, then thirty, then twenty, then ten...

She rounded a corner just as Jaune was almost within arm's reach of her. He went to round the corner, but froze when he heard her voice.

"Neptune!"

The icy claws of fear gripped his heart and throat, and Jaune suddenly found it hard to breathe. _"No..."_

"Oh uh, hey," responded Neptune, who seemed surprised, "what's up?"

"I know this is a little unorthodox, but... I wanted to ask you something."

Jaune closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the building. This couldn't he happening. Not now. Not when he'd _finally_ gotten the courage to tell her how he felt.

"Would you... like to accompany me to the dance Sunday?"

It took all of Jaune's willpower to not turn and run right then and there, or collapse into a heap on the ground. He'd been too slow. He'd failed to take into account the fact that Weiss liked Neptune. Of course she would ask him! The only surprising thing was that Neptune hadn't asked her first!

"Um... sorry Weiss, but I'm gonna have to turn you down. Hey I'll see you there though, okay?"

Jaune jaw dropped and he peeked around the corner, and saw that Neptune had not only turned her down, but was _walking away from her._ He looked the Angel's Rose, then grinned. This was it! This was his chance! He would ask Weiss, and then she would see that...

The sound of sniffling shattered his thoughts, and Jaune looked around the corner. What he saw broke his heart and kindled a white hot anger in his chest for Neptune.

Weiss Schnee was crying.

Her head was in her hands as the tears poured down her soft pale cheeks. The tears glimmered like diamonds in the moonlight until they hit the ground, where they shattered. Each one put another crack in Jaune's heart and stoked the burning rage in his chest. If he went over there his presence would only make it worse. She would resent him for spying on her in her moment of weakness, rose or no. He couldn't comfort her, but her teammates could. He pulled out his scroll and typed a quick message to the other girls of RWBY, then walked away from Weiss and circled the building, heading towards the back entrance. He couldn't comfort Weiss, but he could get answers for her.

Neptune was going to explain exactly why he had turned Jaune's Snow Angel down, even if the squire had to beat it out of him.

* * *

Weiss sobbed, not caring that any moment someone could potentially see her bawling like a baby. Her breath came in hitched gasps, her shoulders shuddering with each sob.

 _Why?_ Why had he turned her down? What had she done wrong? Why wasn't she good enough for him? Wasn't there any boy that really cared about _her_?

"Weiss?"

She gasped and looked up. Her teammates were running towards her. She tried to dry her eyes on her sleeve and smile, to pretend that nothing was wrong, but the smile fell before it had been fully formed and the tears just _wouldn't stop_. Three pairs of arms wrapped around her and held her tight in their embrace. "Hey there," said Yang softly, who was officially in big sister mode, "he's just a silly boy, okay? He's not worth crying over."

"I-I thought he c-cared," sobbed Weiss, "I thought he was different, b-but he j-ju-just led me along!"

"Let's go back to the dorm, okay?" said Yang. "We'll open up those packs of that hot chocolate you like so much and put the little marshmallows in the cups. Does that sound good?"

Weiss nodded and let her friends lead her off to their dorm room.

* * *

When Weiss was securely wrapped in a blanket with Blake and Yang talking to her about boys Ruby went across the hall to get the other three members of JNPR. In Ruby's experience there was nothing quite as nice as having all your friends around you when you were sad. She knocked on the door, and almost immediately it opened to show Ren on the other side. "Hey Ren. Think you guys could come over real quick? Weiss is having some serious boy problems right now, and I think it would help if she had all her friends with her."

Ren's normally neutral expression turned to one of surprise. "She reacted thatbadly to Jaune asking her to the dance?"

Ruby shook her head no. "Jaune never asked her. She went to ask Neptune to the dance, but he turned her down. Jaune saw the whole thing and texted us to come get her."

"So Jaune's with you guys right now?"

"No," said Ruby, "he said in his text something about 'getting answers' but I don't know what he meant. So do you guys think you could come over?"

Ren shook his head and pointed over his shoulder at Pyrrha and Nora. Pyrrha was curled up on her bed, with Nora's arms wrapped around her shaking form. "I'm afraid Weiss isn't the only one with some boy issues at the moment."

"Oh no," whispered Ruby. "Because of Jaune?"

Ren nodded in confirmation. "We'd come help if we could, but she needs us right now."

"N-no! No, I'm fine!" Pyrrha uncurled and pushed herself to her feet. She wiped her eyes and smiled brokenly at Ruby. "We should be there for Weiss. Besides, it would be nice for me to talk to someone who's going through the same thing right now, and Weiss might like it too."

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby uncertainly, "you guy's don't have to you know."

"I'm sure," Pyrrha said, then wiped more tears off of her cheeks, "Weiss and I can talk about how clueless boys can be, and how they can't see a good thing when it's right in front of them," she bowed her head to Ren apologetically. "No offense Ren."

The ninja shrugged. "None taken, and to be fair you're not wrong."

"I'll say," muttered Nora.

The four of them walked over to RWBY's dorm, and Pyrrha sat down next to Weiss and quickly found herself wrapped in a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate pressed into her hands. "W-what's wrong with you Pyrrha?" sniffled Weiss as she took a sip from her cup.

"J-just boy troubles is all," sniffled Pyrrha, "you know how it is."

"Yeah," said Weiss as she leaned against Pyrrha, who leaned back against the heiress. "W-what did the blonde dunce do?"

"Just the u-usual," responded Pyrrha, "just being o-oblivious."

Weiss looked around the room with eyes that were bloodshot from crying. "Where i-is he anyway?"

Ruby thought fast. "He's out getting answers."

Weiss frowned, "what does that mean?"

* * *

Jaune took a deep breath in, then knocked against the door of SSSN's dorm room. He had set the Angel's Rose aside just in case he needed both hands to thrash Neptune.

The door was opened by Sun, who seemed surprised to see Jaune. "Oh, hey man. What's up?"

Jaune smiled, hiding away the boiling anger. "Hey Sun, I just need to talk to Neptune about our fight yesterday is all. Just wanted to go over some things with him."

"Alright. Hey Neptune! Jaune's here. Says he wants to talk to about your fight yesterday."

Neptune replaced Sun at the door and stepped out into the hall, shutting the door behind him. "What's up man? You wanted to talk about our fight?"

"No," Jaune said, "that was just the best excuse I could think of to give Sun. I want to talk to you about Weiss."

Neptune frowned in confusion, then his mouth opened in a silent O. "Hey man if you want to ask her to the dance she's all yours. I wasn't planning on asking her."

Jaune's stepped forward and gripped the door frame with both hands, trapping Neptune between the door and himself. "Oh I know you weren't," growled the squire, "I saw her ask you to the dance Neptune."

Neptune gulped and looked away. "O-oh..."

"So maybe you could explain why you turned her down? I mean, this is _Weiss Schnee_ we're talking about here. She could have literally any guy at this school she wanted, but for whatever reason, she chose _you._ So why? Why did you turn her down?"

"I uh... it uh... It just didn't work out."

The door frame cracked under Jaune's grip.

"What?" he hissed, his blue eyes burning with fury, "didn't work out? What kind of bullshit excuse is that?! Weiss Schnee asked _you_ to the dance, and instead of saying yes you left her crying in the courtyard!"

Neptune's eyes widened in alarm and fear. "I- I didn't know," he said hurriedly, "I had _no_ idea she was crying, okay?"

"That doesn't make it better," Jaune snarled, "you've got ten seconds to give me a better reason than 'it didn't work out' or I will drag you outside and _beat_ you until-"

"I can't dance!"

The anger left Jaune's system, and was replaced by exasperation. _"You have got to be kidding me..."_ the squire closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Say again?"

"I can't dance man!"

Jaune opened his eyes and fixed Neptune with a death glare. "You mean to tell me that you broke her heart just because you can't move in time to music?"

"Uh... yeah..."

Jaune ran his fingers through his hair and let out an explosive sigh. "Neptune, do you like Weiss?"

"What?"

Jaune scowled and fixed him with another glare, which made the bluenette flinch away. "Do. You. Like. Weiss? Yes or no, and don't lie to me."

"I mean... yeah, I do," he said earnestly, "I don't know her very well, but she seems really cool."

Jaune sighed and nodded, then stepped away from Neptune and picked up the Angel's Rose. He held it out to Neptune, who looked at him weirdly. "Uh... why are you giving me a flower dude?"

"Because you're going to come with me to team RWBY's dorm, and you're going to apologize _profusely_ to Weiss, and then tell her that the reason you turned her down was because you wanted to ask her to the dance, and give this rose to her. You're going to tell her that you named it the Angel's Rose, that it shines under the moonlight, and that when you saw it she was the first thing you thought of and knew she had to have it. If she asks where you got it, _do not_ tell her that I gave it to you. Tell her you bought it or something. If she accepts your apology and agrees to go to the dance with you I will give you dancing lessons so that come Sunday you'll hopefully be a passable dancer."

Neptune tentatively took the potted rose out of Jaune's hand and held it in his. "Thanks man! I owe you!"

"I'll consider us even if you do one thing for me."

"Sure man, anything!"

Jaune jabbed a finger into Neptune's face. "You _promise_ me you won't flirt with any other girls leading up to and during the dance. If you do, I swear the next time we fight I won't hold back, and I will make _sure_ we fight again. Got it?"

Neptune gulped and nodded. "Got it."

"Good." Jaune stepped back from Neptune. "Now let's go get you a date to the dance."

* * *

"W-what did I do wrong?" sobbed Weiss and chugged her hot chocolate. "Was I not pretty enough? Was he just playing with my heart along and never really cared?"

Pyrrha, who seemed to have calmed down significantly after having her own good cry, patted Weiss's shoulder comfortingly. "Weiss, if Neptune doesn't see how amazing you are then that's his fault! You deserve a boy who likes you for you, not for your name."

"But that's all they ever want," she sobbed. "My name, my _money._ Never _me."_

"Well..." Pyrrha said hesitantly, "there's always J-"

A knock on the door interrupted her. "I got it," Yang said as she stood up and opened the door. "You've got ten seconds to explain why you're here before I put you through a wall," the blonde girl snarled to whoever was on the other side of the door.

"Look, I came to apologize to Weiss, okay? And to give her something."

Weiss gasped and dropped her mug when she heard _his_ voice. What was Neptune doing here?!

Yang turned to Weiss, and then looked back at the bluenette. "You've got thirty seconds, and it better be a _good_ apology."

Weiss turned away from him, both unwilling to see the boy who had callously broken her heart and not wanting him to see her with blood shot eyes and tear tracks down her cheeks.

She heard his feet on the floor as he entered the room. "Hey Snow Angel," he said softly, "I know you probably hate me right now, and I don't blame you, but the reason I turned you down isn't because I didn't want to go with you, but because I wanted to ask _you_ , and you just kind of took me off guard."

She sniffled. "W-why does it matter if you ask me, or if I ask you?" she asked without turning around. She wished her voice would stop quivering, and that her heart would slow down. "If you _really_ wanted to go with me then it shouldn't have mattered that I asked you first."

"Normally, yeah, but then I wouldn't have been able to give you this when I asked you." The others in the room gasped in awe, and against her better judgement Weiss turned around to see what had gotten their attention. When she saw it she couldn't stop the gasp that passed her lips, and her eyes watered with tears of joy instead of heartbreak.

What Neptune held in his hands was quite simply the most beautiful white rose she had ever seen. It shined like the most finely cut gem under the moonlight and seemed to illuminate the entire room in a soft glow. As though she were in a trance Weiss stood up from the bed and walked over to Neptune, her eyes unable to leave the flower. "Oh Neptune," she breathed, "its beautiful."

He grinned and held it out to her. "It's all yours if you want it. I call it the Angel's Rose. It shines under the moonlight, and the first thing I thought of when I saw it was you, Snow Angel. I just knew you had to have it."

Gently she took the pot in both hands and took the rose from Neptune. It seemed to glow even brighter when she held it in her hands. "Where did you find this?"

He laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, I was just out in Vale one day and saw it in a flower shop. I just knew I had to get it for you."

She carefully placed the flower on the vanity she and Ruby shared and wrapped her arms around the tall boy's midsection. He hugged her back. "So does this mean you'd like to go to the dance with me?" he asked.

"Yes!" she squealed happily, "I would love to Neptune!" She looked up at him, her whole body warm from happiness. "Maybe now the Arc dunce will finally stop flirting with me."

"Oh don't worry," said an all too familiar voice from the doorway, "I know when I've been defeated."

She looked around Neptune, and there he was. Jaune Arc was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, a soft smile on his face as he watched Neptune and Weiss. He shrugged. "Neptune's clearly the better man here. I won't get in his way." He looked at Neptune, and the bluenette gulped and straightened up, as though he were almost afraid of Jaune for some reason. The smile dropped off of Jaune's face, and for the first time Weiss saw his severe side. "You'll take good care of her, won't you Neptune?"

"Yeah," Neptune responded hurriedly, "I definitely will!"

The smile returned to the blonde's face. "Good." He turned to his teammates. "I'll be out for most of the night guys, so don't wait up for me alright?"

Without waiting for an answer from his friends Jaune walked down the hall.

"Wait," said Neptune, "So Jaune used to flirt with you?"

"Yes," she huffed, "but now thanks to you I won't have to worry about him anymore." She wrapped her arms around one of his and hugged it to her chest.

Neptune whispered something to himself. Weiss was almost certain she'd misheard him, but it sounded like he had said, "thanks Jaune."

* * *

Jaune walked out of the dorms building and didn't stop walking until he was well into the forest surrounding the school. It wasn't the Emerald Forest. That was still a couple of miles away from the school, but this was far enough for him to be sure no one would stumble across him.

He collapsed against a tree and sank to the ground, sobbing. His head fell into his hands as the tears he had been holding back were finally unleashed and ran down his cheeks. "Damnit," he sobbed, " _damnit._ "

He just _had_ to always be the nice guy didn't he? He just had to keep making sacrifice after _sacrifice_ to ensure his friend's safety and happiness. First it was his future, then it was his place with JNPR, and now finally it was his _heart._ What more would he have to sacrifice for them? For everyone? How many more sleepless nights would he have, fearing what the future would bring, fearing that when the end came he would not be strong enough to stop it and save the ones he loved? How many more nightmares would he have of the Grimm flooding the world, tearing his friends and family apart as he was forced watch?

He may have been the champion of Light, but for the past month all Jaune had been able to see in his future was darkness.

A gentle touch on his shoulder shocked Jaune to reality, and he leapt to his feet. Standing before him was a woman with a pair of familiar amber eyes and long flowing raven locks. "Cinder," he croaked, his voice hoarse from crying, "what are you doing here?"

She smiled kindly at him. "I saw what happened with Neptune and Weiss, and how you ensured he would take her to the dance. I saw you coming out here on your own, and I thought that you might like having someone to talk to"

He sank back down and leaned against the tree. "Thanks," he muttered, "but I'd like to be alone right now."

"I don't think you do," she said, and knelt next to him, placing her hand on top of his. Her hand was warm on his, and the contact sent pleasurable tingles up his arm. "I think the last thing you want is to be alone." Her fingers intertwined with his, and she whispered in his ear. "The Schnee girl was foolish, and could not see what she what she had before her. I am not so misguided Jaune." Her other hand came up and cupped his face. She caressed his cheek lovingly. "She sees what she thinks you are: a foolish boy who is just like all the others who have only ever after been her family's wealth, but I see you for what you _are_ : a man who has taken a great weight upon his shoulders. A man who puts the needs of others before himself." She kissed his cheek, and her hand unwound from his. "Those kind of men are the greatest, and the most dangerous to their enemies. They will change the world, or they will die trying." With the slightest pressure on his cheek she turned his head towards hers. Her lips were less than inch from his, her breath warm on his lips. One part of him wanted her to go away, but another part of him wanted to press his lips against hers and forget about Weiss and Neptune, to forget about becoming Knight-Lord, to forget about Salem. This time however both sides of his mind were evenly matched, and thus he was frozen in place by indecision.

He was saved from having to choose by a gust of wind from a very familiar pair of wings knocking them over. _"Well well, what do we have here?"_

Jaune scrambled to his feet and helped Cinder up. "Talon! We weren't- I mean we didn't- nothing happened!"

Jaune knew that if the Gryphon had the necessary facial muscles he would be smirking victoriously. _"I know nothing happened, because I stopped it from happening."_

"Well," Cinder said as she dusted her skirt off, "that was certainly surprising. I think I'll be on my way now Jaune, but please remember that you have my number if you decide that you would like a date to the dance." She quickly darted forward and planted another kiss on his cheek, and then walked away, leaving Jaune alone with Talon.

Jaune ran his hand through his hair and leaned against the tree. "Thanks for the save."

 _"Of course,"_ the Gryphon responded haughtily, but Jaune could feel the concern coming from his mount. _"However I only came because before she showed up I could feel the sorrow radiating off of you from a mile away. What happened Jaune?"_

"It's..." he brought his hand up to his face and wiped new tears out of his eyes, "It's Weiss."

The Gryphon bumped him with his beak. _"Sit down, and tell me about it. Believe it or not, I'm fairly familiar with human relationships and the unrequited love that often comes with them."_

Jaune sat down and told his Gryphon everything, from him going to ask Weiss to the dance to him coming out to the forest to be alone. The war beast listened patiently, never interrupting as he spoke. When he was done the tears were pouring down his face again, and the image of Weiss holding Neptune was at the fore of his mind.

 _"Maybe now the Arc dunce will finally stop flirting with me."_

God, she really did hate him, didn't she? He laughed bitterly. He'd never had a chance with her. He'd been a fool to think he ever did.

"I was an idiot, wasn't I?" asked Jaune. "I never had a chance with someone as perfect as Weiss. I shouldn't have bothered to try."

Talon bumped his beak against Jaune's shoulder kindly. _"You do yourself a disservice saying such things. You are a great man, and you will be greater still. If the Schnee Heiress is incapable of seeing this, then that is her issue. Who knows? Perhaps she will realize her mistake and pursue you."_

"You think so?" Jaune said hopefully.

 _"I don't know, and I don't wish to give you any false hope. However if she's half as intelligent as you've said she is then she may possibly realize her mistake in time."_

"Thanks Talon," Jaune said. The two sat in silence for a few minutes, then Jaune spoke up. "Hey, Talon?"

 _"Yes?"_

"I really don't want to go back to the dorms tonight."

 _"Then you will sleep here, with me."_ The Gryhpon spread one of his wings and Jaune crawled under it, cozying up against Talon's warm flank as the wing covered him like a blanket.

For the first time in weeks Jaune's dreams were filled with something other than darkness and despair. He dreamed of white fields of snow and angels coming down from the sky. A voice more beautiful than any he'd ever heard before spoke to him in his dreams.

 _"My Champion, your life will be one of sacrifice, but you will not be without hope..."_

* * *

Cinder couldn't keep the furious snarl off her face as she stitched together the outfit she would be wearing to infiltrate the CCTS tower.

 _Damn_ that glorified turkey! She'd had the Arc boy right where she wanted him! A few more seconds and she would have plunged her blade into his chest, putting an end to the Gryphon Knights. However when the Gryphon had shown up she'd known she was outclassed. She could defeat the boy on his own easily, but with his pet to help him Cinder wouldn't have stood a chance.

"What now ma'm?" asked Emerald.

Cinder forced herself to think clearly. She had failed to kill Jaune, but there would be other opportunities for that. For now she had to focus on the CCTS tower, and planting the virus. He might even take her up on her offer to go to the dance with him. If he did, then she would find an opportunity to get him alone, and if he didn't, then she would _still_ find an opportunity to get him alone. Perhaps not at the dance, but at some point.

"We continue with the plan," Cinder said. "There will be other opportunities to kill him. If he remains in the city during the breach then that will be a perfect time to kill him. No one will look too far into a huntsman in training dying at the hands of the Grimm. For now we focus on the CCTS tower, and preparing ourselves for the breach."

* * *

 **Man, poor Jaune. And poor Pyrrha for that matter. Even after Weiss gets turned down by Neptune she stills tries to suggest to the heiress that Jaune would happily take her, because she knows how much Jaune cares about Weiss. There's usually a winner and a loser in love, but both Jaune and Pyrrha were the losers in this chapter. I kinda feel bad for doing this to them, but it's always darkest before the dawn. Lotta crying going on too in this chapter. I didn't realize just how much crying was going on until I went back and reread it for editing, but us teens are nothing if not emotional.**

 **We see just how far Jaune will go to ensure the happiness of his friends, and though he accidentally left Pyrrha as a sobbing mess he didn't realize he had. Had he known he would have burst back into JNPR's dorm to comfort her.**

 **Jaune went so far as to corner (and threaten) Neptune and get answers out of him on why he turned Weiss down, and when he learned Neptune's reasons he not only gave Neptune the Angel's Rose so that he could go apologize, he also agreed to give Neptune dance lessons so he wouldn't be completely hopeless at the dance. I know that in the show Weiss asks Neptune to the dance the day before, but for the sake of ensuring that Nathaniel and Jaune can get their outfits from the tailor's (what will they be I wonder?) and Jaune can give Neptune some lessons I decided to move it back so they would have a week before the dance.**

 **We also see that Jaune has some _serious_ weight on his shoulders, and he's a lot more stressed out than he's letting on in front of the others, including Nathaniel and Talon. Cinder also tried to ply her tricks on him and put an end to the squire then and there, but Talon showed up before anything could happen.**

 **As always please follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction then feel free to tell them about this fic! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to say what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYEEEEEEE!**


	11. Chapter 11

**HEEEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOOOO! Fanfiction has finally fixed itself and I can finally see the reviews you guys posted! They were mostly positive, which was very comforting, and there were no blatantly negative comments. There was one that said he/she didn't necessarily like the way the story was going, or rather the way I portrayed some of the characters, but honestly that's okay. I don't consider it negative because he/she did give good reasons, and didn't go off on a tangent insulting me or my story, so I categorize that as constructive criticism. gdvp111 said the last chapter felt a bit rushed, and I'm not gonna lie, it might have been. While cranking out two chapters in one weekend felt _awesome_ I will be the first to admit that it doesn't always lead to the best pacing. **

**Special thanks to gdvp111 and zorro99 who sent reviews over PM when they realized I couldn't see their reviews. Your dedication to this story really does help.**

 **And even more special thanks to gdvp111 who made the _awesome_ cover art for this story!**

 **In this chapter we get into the dance! People will be shinnin, people will be diggin, people will be shinnin _and_ diggin! (get it? Cause it's a shin dig? HAHAHAHAHAHA I'm so sorry) Jaune and Nathaniel will be rockin their prom outfits, Nathaniel's got himself the hot teacher date, and Jaune? Well...**

 **Wait and see.**

* * *

Jaune had to admit that while at first he hadn't exactly been excited for the dance for obvious reasons, when he saw the outfits that Glynda's tailor had made for him and Nathaniel they were almost enough to make him excited. He couldn't help the proud grin on his face as he examined in the mirror, and could think only one thing.

 _"Damn I look good."_

Indeed he did. The outfit was reminiscent of the dress uniforms of Vale's army, with a few distinct changes. In place of the green with white trim that was the color scheme of Vale's army, the blouse of Jaune's uniform was white with gold trim with a waist length cape attached to the shoulders, which was also white with gold trim. Around his waist was a gold belt with a silver buckle shaped like a Gryphon's head. The trousers were blue with gold trim on the seams. For footwear Jaune had on a pair of knee high black leather boots. Over it all was a large blue cloak that went down to his knees, called an officer's boat cloak, according to Nathaniel. The cloak was pinned in place around his neck by a silver pendant fashioned as a sword with Gryphon wings extending from it. Jaune's normally messy and untamed hair was slicked back thanks to more than a little hair gel.

"I still can't believe Mrs. Goodwitch's tailor got _two_ of those outfits ready with only a week to work on them," said Nora as Ren brushed her hair.

"According to Nathaniel she just _really_ loves her job," replied Jaune as he turned away from the mirror to inspect his friends' outfits for the dance. "Add that to a Semblance that allows her to stay awake for weeks with no negative consequences, and you've got the most productive tailor in all of Vale." She had also been on the highway the night Jaune and Talon had driven the Paladin off of the bridge. She had said that they had saved both her life and that of her child, so she considered herself in Jaune's debt and made the outfits for free. However Jaune hadn't told anyone about that. He didn't want anyone to think he was taking advantage of the people he was protecting.

The other members of team JNPR looked great too, if a bit more subtle. Ren was in a simple tux with green trim, while Nora was wearing a pink and white dress, the top part being pink, the bottom being white. The top was cut to resemble a heart in appearance, and while perhaps not the fanciest outfit that would be seen at the dance, it was just so utterly Nora that Jaune couldn't see her in anything else. Pyrrha wore an absolutely stunning scarlet dress that matched the color of her hair perfectly, along with her ever present circlet. A slit ran up the right side of the dress all the way to her thigh which showed more than a bit skin, and Jaune had to admit to himself that his eye had been drawn to it more than once. Partner she may be, but Jaune was well aware she was a beautiful woman. However he'd be keeping an eye any other guys that got too close to her. Champion fighter or no, she was still his teammate, and as leader he'd make sure no one ruined this night for her, including himself. Which meant no moping, no feeling sorry for himself, and making sure he was smiling while around them.

He grinned at them, "I think it's safe to say we'll be best dressed team there."

Nora snorted with laughter. "Yeah, cause you stole all the fashion from everyone else."

"Nah," Jaune said as he patted her and Pyrrha on the head. "You girls look _good._ I'm gonna have to beat the guys off of you two with a stick." He grinned at Ren and patted him on the shoulder. "And Nora's gonna have to beat the girls off you with Magnhild." Ren rolled his eyes and didn't respond, but he was smiling. _"All according to plan,"_ he thought to himself, _"keep them smiling and happy. Make it clear that you're here for them."_

When Jaune had returned to JNPR's dorm the day after he had slept in the forest with Talon he had been bombarded with questions about why Neptune had asked Weiss to the dance, and how he had gotten the Angel's Rose. He had answered the questions calmly, letting them know that he had chosen to help Neptune take Weiss to the dance, and give the boy dance lessons. He had tried to hide the disappointment and pain he felt behind a veil of humor and smiles, but he could tell his teammates could see through it, as could the other three members of RWBY at breakfast when JNPR had joined them. Weiss either hadn't been able to tell or hadn't cared, being too distracted by Neptune. When he'd realized that his friends could tell he was faking it he did the only thing he could think of: he laid it on even thicker.

For the next week he smiled and laughed more, he had mini food fights with Yang, Nora, and Ruby, and he'd helped the nutty ginger fling pancake frisbees at team CRDL. He joked with Pyrrha and discussed ways they could utilize her semblance combined with his armor and weapon. He and Ren discussed meditative techniques and health drinks, the former of which sounded relaxing while the latter sounded like suicide in a glass. He had in depth discussions with Ruby about weapons, strawberries, and occasionally cookies. He joked with Yang about everything under the sun until they had left the rest of the table groaning in punny agony while the two of them were howling in laughter. He discussed books with Blake, and adamantly tried to drive home the point that "Ninjas of Love" was in fact porn while she vehemently defended her favorite book series. Weiss showed no interest in talking to him whatsoever, which worked out just fine for Jaune, as it helped him avoid calling her Snow Angel out of habit.

So who cared if there was still plenty of pain buried deep inside of him, or that he was still finding it hard to sleep, or that when he did sleep his mind was plagued with nightmares? He could deal with that on his own time. Right now he was going to be there for his friends, no matter what. This was their night, and he was going to make it the best night ever. He grinned at his teammates, "ladies, gentleman. Are we ready to go?"

Pyrrha smiled back at him and pushed herself to her feet. "I believe we are."

Nora leaped up and threw her hands into the air. "Let's party!"

Ren smiled and put the hairbrush on the vanity. "Let's."

"Alright then," Jaune said and took the doorknob in his hand. "Let's go turn some heads."

Jaune opened the door and team JNPR stepped out into the hall, just as team RWBY did the same on the opposite end of the hall. First came Weiss and Neptune with arms interlocked, then Blake and Sun, and finally little Ruby, who was stumbling about in a pair of high heels. Immediately Jaune clamped down on the jealously he felt for Neptune and shoved it into a dark little hole, locked it away, and tossed the key. He grinned at the five of them. "Hey guys, you're all looking good." He frowned as he realized an integral part of the team was missing. "Where's Yang?"

The girls of RWBY and the boys of SSSN had dressed well for the occasion, barring Sun of course. Weiss was wearing a white dress that went half way down her upper legs with slits cut in it over her waist with mesh covering her upper chest, shoulders, and back. Blake was wearing a purple dress with a black belt around the waist, with a slit up the side similar to Pyrrha's. Neptune was wearing a simple tux with blue trim, but still had his goggles on. Sun was... Sun. He had swapped his white shirt for a black one and buttoned it up somewhat, and donned a white tie, though he looked ready to rip it off. Ruby was wearing a sleeveless red dress that went down to cover half of her upper leg with a black sash around the waist. The dress split down the middle of her chest, the split covered by criss crossing black ribbon. Her upper chest, shoulders, and upper back were covered only by black mesh, and the poor girl was stumbling around in a set of heels. Jaune had to suppress his big brother instincts and the urge to remove his cloak and drape it over her.

While Ruby awkwardly stumbled around so she could shut the door to her dorm the other four stared at him open mouthed. Jaune frowned in confusion. "Something wrong guys?" He looked at his uniform, but nothing seemed to be off or out of place. Was there a stain he couldn't see?

Ruby finally managed to shut the door and turned back to the front. "Yang's greeting people as they come in, so we'll see her th-" her eyes widened when they fell upon him and her back straightened. "Hot," she squeaked.

Jaune frowned in confusion. "Are you trying to say you're hot Ruby?" Her dress didn't really look like something that would retain much heat...

"Hot," she squeaked again, still staring at him. By this point Sun and Neptune seemed to have gotten over whatever had made them freeze up and were trying not to laugh at Ruby, but Weiss and Blake were still staring. Judging by the muffled giggles coming from beside him Nora seemed to be in the same situation as the two boys.

Jaune still didn't understand what Ruby was trying to say. "Ruby, I don't understand. Are you saying you're hot? Are you asking if I'm hot? I mean the cloak's a bit thick, but it's not that bad..." Sun, Neptune, and Nora burst into full out laughter.

"She's saying you look good bro," said Sun.

"Ooooh," Jaune said as he finally understood. He grinned at the little reaper. "Thanks Ruby, you look good too." Once again he quashed the big brother urge to drape his cloak over her.

"Thanks," she squeaked, then cleared her throat and looked away from him, her cheeks a good deal redder than they had been earlier.

Jaune fist bumped the two guys. "You two look good. Neptune, you ready for the dance?" What Jaune was really asking him was whether or not he remembered what Jaune had taught him about dancing.

Neptune grinned and nodded. "You know it man." Good, then he remembered what Jaune had taught him. It wasn't nearly enough to make Neptune a 'good' dancer per se, but he would be able to hold his own on the dance floor, even on slow dance songs.

"Man, we may look good," Sun laughed, "but you take the entire cake. Where'd you get that?"

Jaune shrugged bashfully and looked away, resisting the urge to scratch his head and mess up his hair. "Believe it or not Mrs. Goodwitch's personal tailor made it. My mentor Nathaniel has an outfit just like mine. We figure that we could probably make this the dress uniform of the Gryphon Knights, when we eventually start recruiting after a few years."

The nine of them started walking down the hallway. "So what _are_ the Gryphon Knights?" asked Sun as they walked, "All I've ever heard about them is people talking about you on the news, and it's really just about how you're one of them. No one's really said what they are." They reached the door and exited the building, walking out into the light of the shattered moon.

"That's because almost no one knows," responded Jaune. "The Order is ten thousand years old. They lived during the time of the old kingdoms, back when Remnant was dotted with hundreds of small kingdoms. These kingdoms were eventually razed by the Grimm after the Order's fall, which is why there's very, _very_ few people know anything about us. The remnants of these kingdoms managed to band together to survive, and at some point the four kingdoms we know today were formed." "

Essentially the Knights were men who dedicated their lives to battling the Grimm and rode Gryphons, like Talon. My ancestor, a man named Cailan, was the one who formed the order and led it until it's eventual destruction a few decades later. However he laid the foundations for its survival. Nathaniel's ancestor and Talon were sent away to hide Talon from the Grimm as he was put into a deep sleep. He slept for ten thousand years, awaiting... well, me. When I found him and Nathaniel I learned about my ancestor Cailan, and my duty to reform the Order."

"Wait," said Neptune, "you mean to tell me that your Gryphon is ten thousand years old? How is he _alive_?"

Jaune smiled and shrugged, "that requires an explanation that's far too long for tonight. Let's all just focus on having fun, enjoying ourselves, and praying that Yang hasn't spiked the punch yet."

"She better not have," muttered Ruby, then tripped over her own two feet.

Jaune caught her before she hit the ground and helped her back up. He stuck out an arm and offered it to her. "Here, why not hold onto me until you've got the hang of walking in those? It'll be better than you falling flat on your face before you even reach the dance."

Ruby stared at the proffered arm as though she couldn't believe her luck, and wrapped her own slender ones around it. "Thanks," she squeaked.

For a few minutes they walked like that until Pyrrha stumbled on Jaune's other side, and he barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground too. "You too Pyrrha? You're usually pretty coordinated. Would you like my help too, or will you be okay?"

Pyrrha stared at him with a look similar to the one Ruby had given his arm, then wrapped her own arms around his free one with a smile and a blush. "I think I'll take your help, just in case."

She muttered something to Nora that Jaune didn't catch, but to which Nora replied, "anytime Pyrrha."

With a woman on each arm Jaune walked and talked with his friends, laughing at a story Sun was telling them about the time one of his other teammates, a boy named Scarlet, had accidentally gone to class without his pants. Sun had just finished his story when Jaune looked up and saw two people he recognized walking arm in arm ahead of them. "Nathaniel! Mrs. Goodwitch!"

The teacher and knight turned around, and Jaune swore he heard others' jaws drop when they saw Glynda. He wasn't afraid to admit that his dropped too.

She was wearing a flowing white dress with long sleeves, gold trim, a keyhole neckline like the one on her normal outfit, and a small blue cape similar to the one on her work outfit. The dress went down to her ankles and fluttered about in the breeze, giving her an angelic appearance. Her foot wear was a pair of white high heels. Her blonde hair was down and ran down to the middle of her back, though the curl in the front was still there. The moonlight made her hair shine as though it were spun gold. Beside her Nathaniel stood with her arm wrapped around his. The knight, who's outfit was identical to Jaune's, was trying not to look too overjoyed by the fact that he was going to a dance with _Glynda Friggin Goodwitch_ and failing miserably, if the proud grin on his face was any indicator. Jaune smiled and nodded to his mentor, who returned it. The two walked towards their students and stopped a few feet away, their arms still interlocked. "Students, Jaune," Mrs. Goodwitch said with an actual _smile_ , "are you excited for the dance?"

"Yes ma'am," Jaune said as the other simply nodded, still trying to process the sight before them.

"Holy dust," muttered Neptune. Jaune pondered shooting the bluenette a warning glare, but decided against it as he was pretty sure everyone was thinking something along those lines, including the squire.

Glynda smiled again and tightened her grip around Nathaniel's arm ever so slightly, which was enough to make the knight's grin wider. "Well I'm glad. These events are always times for people to get together and forget their troubles. It's nice to have a night that I don't have to worry about grading papers. Shall we all walk inside together?"

Jaune looked at his friends for confirmation. They didn't seem to mind walking in with what was probably going to quickly become the hottest couple in Beacon, so he smiled at the both of them and nodded. "I think we'd all like that ma'am."

"Sir Nathaniel! Mr. Arc! Oh thank goodness I caught up to you two! I have something for the both of you!"

They all turned around at the familiar voice of the hyperactive Doctor Oobleck, who was running towards them at a full sprint and carrying a cloth wrapped bundle in his arms. He skidded to a halt before them and pushed his glasses up. "What is it Bart?" asked Nathaniel. The two had formed a close friendship over a mutual love of history, and on occasion Nathaniel had been asked to teach a class on the ancient kingdoms of Remnant, of which he knew more than Oobleck.

Oobleck held out the cloth wrapped bundles to Jaune and Nathaniel. "These are for the two of you. They are relics of the Order, though I hadn't realized that until fairly recently. I decided to wait until tonight to give them to you, as a surprise."

Nathaniel reached forward and pulled the cloth aside, exposing the items beneath. Two long swords in black leather scabbards rested in Oobleck's arms. One had a diamond on the pommel with blue leather wrapped around the grip, and what looked to be a gold or at least gold plated cross-guard. The other had a sapphire set on the pommel with black leather wrapped around the grip with a silver cross-guard.

Nathaniel gasped and began visibly shaking when he saw the weapons. His hands inched towards them, but stopped just before touching them, as though doing so would make them disappear. "Bartholomew," he whispered, "where did you find these?"

"I found them when I was scouring an old ruined fortress three years ago deep in the swamps of Mistral. You see I had gone there on Ozpin's orders to find anything of value belonging to the ancient kingdoms. These two swords were all I found. They had been sealed carefully away in a secret room deep within the fortress, and I would have not even found them had I not accidentally tripped, and I do mean that literally, over the mechanism that opened the room. Unfortunately the original scabbards the weapons had been in had rotted away with time, but the weapons were in amazingly good shape. I brought them back with me, cleaned them, and had the two scabbards you see on them now custom made for them. At the time Ozpin and I both thought these belonged to some long dead king of one of the ancient kingdoms, and Ozpin allowed me to keep them in my personal collection, where I ensured they were well maintained. It was not until a month ago that I started comparing them to yours and Mr. Arc's halberds. I compared the way they had been forged and realized that the technique was almost exactly the same, which is why the blades were in such good condition after ten thousand years. I believe these weapons might have belonged to two commanders of the Order."

"Not just any commanders," Nathaniel whispered. He took both weapons from Oobleck reverently, and held them in the crook of his arm. He looked at them, then up at Jaune, and he was shocked to see tears in the eyes of his mentor. "Where is Talon?" the knight asked, "he _needs_ to be here."

Jaune concentrated his thoughts on the Gryphon, and a few seconds later a winged beast eclipsed the moon and Talon landed next to them. _"What is it Jaune?"_ he asked as his gaze passed over the squire, then to Nathaniel, whose gaze had gone back to the swords. Immediately Jaune felt disbelief, hope, joy, and sorrow flowing in a tidal wave from his mount. _"It cannot be,"_ the Gryphon said to itself, and slowly walked towards Nathaniel, the others stepping out of his path. He stopped in front of the knight and stared at the sword with the diamond pommel and golden cross-guard. _"It is. I never thought I would see this blade again."_ With a gentleness that no one who didn't know the war beast would have thought he was capable of possessing, Talon took the weapon by the scabbard in his beak, and turned to Jaune. He held the sword out in his beak to the squire. _"This is Crocea Mors, Yellow Death. Forged by Cailan's hands, this was his ceremonial blade he wore to any formal occasion. Though designed for ceremonies this weapon is capable of being used in combat, should the need ever arise. Take it Jaune. As Cailan's ancestor and the future Knight-Lord, it is now yours."_ With shock Jaune realized that he could see tears in the eyes of the Gryphon.

Reverently Jaune took the ancient weapon in his hand, and Talon released it and stepped back. Nathaniel held the other sword in his own hands, his eyes still upon it. "This is Argentum Mors, Silver Death. Forged by Cailan's hands for my ancestor, Knight-Commander Marusus, to be used as a ceremonial sword. Though meant for ceremonies this weapon can be used in combat, should the need arise." He looked up from the weapon at Jaune and smiled. "Before the end came for the Gryphon Knights Cailan ordered that his and Marusus's ceremonial blades be hidden away in one of our many fortresses. He must have seen that we would have need of them one day."

Standing before each other Jaune and Nathaniel drew the ancient blades from their scabbards as Talon bowed his head in reverence. The weapons gleamed in the light of the moon, their edges sparkling like they had been cut from gems. Jaune could almost feel the history of Crocea Mors as he held it in his hand. In his mind he imagined Cailan wearing this weapon on his side as he talked with kings and queens as an equal. Smiling at one another Jaune and Nathaniel sheathed their blades and attached the scabbards to their belts. Jaune turned to his friends and Mrs. Goodwitch, who had stared in awe at the spectacle. He placed a hand on Talon's flank and patted the war beast, who was holding his head high out of pride. "Let's go have some fun guys."

* * *

"Welcome to the par- OH MY GOSH RUBY YOU LOOK SO CUTE!" Yang rushed over and scooped her little sister up into her arms, and Jaune silently mourned his lost friend as Yang did her best to lovingly strangle her sister.

"Yang," gasped Ruby, "can't. Breathe. Need. Air."

Yang released her little sister. "Sorry little sis, but I just couldn't help myself! You look so cute! I'll crush any boy who lays a hand on you!" She sent a pointed glance at Jaune.

"What did I do?" he asked defensively.

"Besides walk in here with her on your arm?"

"She just needed help getting here," he replied, angling himself so that Pyrrha, who was still on his other arm, would be between him and the brawler should she choose to attack, "she's not used to walking in heels."

Yang smirked, "did Pyrrha need help to?"

"As a matter of fact I did," said Pyrrha as she unwound her arm from Jaune's, "so if you could do us all a favor and not kill Jaune that would be wonderful."

Yang seemed to ponder this, then grinned and shrugged. "Okay!" She turned to Blake, Weiss, Sun, and Neptune. "You girls look good too. Not as good as me, or as cute as Rubes, but good." She pointed at the two boys, "now if either of you try anything nasty I'll break you in half myself, okay?" she said far too sweetly.

The two boys straightened up like they had metal poles in their backs and saluted. "Yes ma'am!" they shouted fearfully.

Her gaze went past them to Glynda and Nathaniel. The blonde brawler strutted over to them and winked at Mrs. Goodwitch. "I see you bagged the hot teacher date. Good on ya prof, but I get him on at the next dance, alright?" Jaune and the others stepped back from Yang, sure the girl was about to be introduced to Mrs. Goodwitch's wrath.

Instead the teacher smiled and looked at the knight. "Nathaniel, would you like to accompany me to the next dance the school holds?"

"I would love to."

Glynda looked back to Yang with what Jaune could honestly say was the smuggest grin he had ever seen on anyone's face. "I'm afraid he's been spoken for Mrs. Xiao Long. Now come along Nathaniel. I need to be sure no one has spiked the punch early."

Yang's mouth dropped as she watched the two teachers walk off, still arm in arm. "So not fair..." she muttered.

Jaune patted her on the shoulder. "There there Goldilocks. Don't let the fact that Glynda is way hotter than you'll ever be bother you too much."

"Jerk," she laughed as she playfully shoved him. She gave his outfit a quick once over. "I gotta say though, you and Nathaniel look _good._ I'm feeling a bit under dressed right now."

He smirked. "Jealous much?" he teased.

"As if," she snorted, "I have boobs, which is way cooler."

He shrugged, "fair point. We're going to go ahead and join the party. How much longer do you need to watch the front?"

She glanced at the clock over the door. "Technically I'm supposed to stay here for at least another five minutes, but I don't think anyone will mind if I cut and run early."

The ten of them made their way into the party laughing and smiling. Naturally Jaune was a constant center of attention whenever he tried to leave the fringes of the party, and quickly made his way back to the edges to escape the crowds of people. He stood in the corner nursing a glass of punch that he was fairly certain hadn't been spiked yet as he watched all of his friends laugh and smile. It was good to see them enjoying themselves and having fun. Weiss and Neptune were enjoying each other's company and occasionally hit the dance floor with Blake, Sun, and Yang. He tried to keep his heart from hurting too much as he watched the heiress and the bluenette laugh and dance, with limited success. His teammates, all of whom loved to dance just as much as he did, spent their time either on the dance floor or taking a break for their next dance. Normally Jaune would have joined them, but every time he tried people would crowd him, mainly girls asking for a dance. Even Ruby, who almost tripped every other step, was enjoying herself, though she tried to stay as far away from the dance floor as humanly possible. He smiled and took a sip of punch as he watched Nathaniel and Glynda talking and laughing with one another. It really was nice to see the two of them together.

Someone stepped next to Jaune, and he had to bite back a groan as he turned to face them. "Whoever you are, I'm not interested in dancing with- oh. General Ironwood?"

The general smiled and extended a hand to Jaune, which the squire took and shook. "Mr. Arc. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. Are you enjoying yourself tonight?"

He smiled as he watched Sun and Neptune slow dance together while the girls watched and laughed. "I believe I am, though I wish I could actually go dance without being crowded by people."

Ironwood nodded in agreement and took a sip from his glass. "Such is the price of fame. If you want my advice then find one of your female friends who came alone and dance with them. Most of the girls should leave you alone when they see you're with someone."

"Thank you for the advice." The squire took a sip of punch, "but I assume you came here for reasons beyond giving me advice on avoiding fan girls?"

"I did," the general took a sip from his own glass. "I wanted to talk to you about what happened on the highway the other night."

Jaune glanced at Ironwood. "I assume you mean the night one of your Paladins terrorized the city of Vale?"

"I... yes. I wanted to talk about the role you played in bringing an end to Torchwick's rampage."

Jaune shrugged, taking another sip of punch. His glass was getting dangerously light, and he was beginning to wish someone had spiked the punch. "What about it? I assume you've seen it from multiple angles. The battle was caught on video by three different traffic cameras, and last I heard they were the most watched videos on Dust Tube, unless of course someone already leaked the new Spruce Willis movie."

"Well yes, I have seen the fight, but you have to admit that its remarkable. A beast so ancient that even the legends of it had been lost to the sands of time taking on the most advanced piece of hardware available to the Atlas Military, and holding it's own. It's a remarkable-"

"His," corrected Jaune.

"Pardon?" asked a startled Ironwood.

"You meant holding _his_ own. You said its. Talon is not some mindless beast. He's as smart as you and I."

"I... see," Ironwood said in a way that clearly indicated he did not, "well either way, it's impressive. However you and your Gryphon were not able to defeat it on your own."

"We weren't," Jaune said mildly as he finished his punch. "Instead all it took to do that was a few first year huntsmen in training. Makes you wonder just how effective that machine would have really been against the Grimm, doesn't it?"

Jaune didn't need to look to know that the General was gritting his teeth. "Yes, well we're still working out some bugs in the design, but I was thinking-"

"Don't hurt yourself," Jaune muttered just loud enough for the General to hear.

"I was thinking," the General said with a bit more force, "what would the might of a Gryphon Knight and a Paladin be if both fought side by side? How many could Grimm could they defeat? Imagine an army of Gryphon Knights united with the Atlas military, the greatest fighting force Remnant has ever seen-"

"Second greatest," corrected Jaune again. "Behind the Order."

That seemed to stoke the General's ire just enough. "Well perhaps you haven't noticed Mr. Arc, but there are only two of you left, while the Atlesian Army numbers in the hundreds of thousands. We keep the four kingdoms safe from the Grimm threat. It is Atleasian weapons that every military and police force on the planet utilizes. Without us the four kingdoms would have fallen long ago."

"Yes, and meanwhile how many little villages a day are slaughtered by the Grimm beyond the four cities' walls? Do you even know? Does _anyone_? You're right that it is the Atlas military that has defended the four kingdoms, but ten thousand years ago the Gryphon Knights defended _hundreds_ of kingdoms. _We_ drove the Grimm back, _We_ held the line, and though there are only two of us left we have endured for ten thousand years, and when the walls of the four kingdoms crumble under the Grimm it will be the Gryphon Knights that stem the tide again and save the people who once relied on those walls, not the horde of machine men that your 'army of hundreds of thousands' consists of."

Talking had parched Jaune's throat. With a dismissive wave he walked away from the good general towards the punch bowl. "Enjoy the party General Ironwood."

* * *

"Hey Ruby. You hiding out at the punch bowl too?" She jumped when she heard Jaune talk, not realizing that he had approached.

"Yeah," she admitted. "You hiding from your fans?"

He glanced at someone on the other end of the room, but being the shortest person at the dance she couldn't see who. "Among others, yeah." He refilled his cup and held it out to Ruby. "To the socially awkward."

She giggled and clinked her glass against his. It felt good to talk with him like this, just as friends with no annoying sister to tease her about her crush and turn her into a blushing mess. "You danced any yet?" she asked, knowing how much the members of team JNPR liked to dance.

He scowled, "no, though it's not for lack of trying. Every time I get close to the dance floor I get mobbed by girls who want to dance with me. I just want dance with my team, but I can't even get close to them. Ge- well, someone suggested that I could find one of my female friends and dance with them, which should hopefully make most of the girls back off."

Her cheeks flushed a bit. On one hand she didn't even want to think about trying to dance in her heels, but on the other hand if Jaune was asking... "are you saying you'd like to dance with me?" she asked hopefully.

He shrugged and glanced at her heels. "Are you sure you want to? I mean it doesn't look like those shoes would be very comfortable to dance in."

In a sudden stroke of genius Ruby kicked off her shoes and stuck them under the punch table. "Problem solved!"

"I guess so," he laughed. He held his hand out to her, "would you like to dance Miss Rose?"

She smiled and took his hand. "I would love to Mr. Arc."

Hand in hand the two walked to the dance floor, where they started dancing their way over to the other members of JNPR. No girls came to bother Jaune, as they all turned around when they saw Ruby with him. _"Yeah that's right,"_ she thought victoriously to herself as he took one of her hands in his and placed the other on her waist, _"I got the hot popular guy to dance with me, and you didn't!"_

Slowly but surely they made their way to JNPR, and finally they reached them. "Hey guys!" Jaune said over the music, "I was finally managed to get out on the dance floor!"

Ruby silently unwound her hand from his and stepped back, taking his hand off her side. _"He's all yours,"_ she mouthed to Pyrrha.

 _"Thank you_ _,"_ the champion replied as he took her hand in his and placed his other hand on her hip. The squire and the champion began to dance together as Nora shouted to Ren about something happening.

Ruby felt the familiar arm of her sister wrap around her shoulders, "you enjoy your dance with lover boy? He didn't try anything naughty did he?"

Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes. "No Yang he was perfectly fine. He just needed someone to dance with so he could reach his teammates."

"Yeah," laughed Yang, "and I'm sure you didn't do this for your own reasons too." Ruby huffed and rolled her eyes. "Hey, wait a minute," said Yang, "where are your shoes?"

* * *

Pyrrha smiled at Jaune as he led his team in a dance. This past week he had done so much to make them all happy. It was like he was back to his old self, if not better.

But Pyrrha knew the truth. He was still hurting inside, even if he didn't show it to the others. No one could get over feelings for someone that quickly if they were real, and Pyrrha knew that his feelings for Weiss were very real, just as real as the ones she felt for him. But how could she help him? She could try to talk to him about it, but she knew that he was nothing if not stubborn. If she tried to pry it out of him when he didn't want to talk about it she could potentially make it worse. She would of course be there for him as his friend and partner, but that wouldn't be enough.

Ultimately she decided the best way to help him was to talk to Weiss. The heiress needed to know just how far Jaune had gone for her to make her happy at the cost of his own happiness, and he deserved at the very least her thanks, if not her friendship. She wouldn't talk to the heiress tonight. Tonight was a night to party and relax, not to cause any drama in their group of friends, but at some point Weiss needed to know how Neptune had really gotten the Angel's Rose.

"May I cut into this dance?"

The four of them turned towards the new voice, and Pyrrha tried to keep a scowl off of her face, with little success.

Cinder stood before them in a dress very similar to Pyrrha, except for the fact that it was black with gloves that went up to her elbows, and Cinder wore it better than Pyrrha did. The Haven student's dress sparkled under the light of the party as though she had taken a piece of the night sky and sewn it into a dress. She smirked at the champion and stepped towards Jaune, and Pyrrha was torn between stepping in between them and letting Jaune choose for himself.

She was saved from having to choose by Jaune's arm wrapping around her shoulder. When she looked over she saw that Jaune had his other arm around Ren and Nora. He smirked at the seductress. "Sorry Cinder, but I'm spending tonight with my team."

Pyrrha smiled victoriously and placed a hand on Jaune's chest possessively. "Yes," she said, "with his team."

Cinder's face was neutral, but Pyrrha could see the frustration in those amber eyes. "I see," she said evenly, "well, enjoy the party." Without another word she walked away, and Pyrrha had to resist the childish urge to stick her tongue at the retreating form of the raven haired girl. Nora had no such qualms however, and stuck her tongue out at Cinder.

Jaune smiled and pulled his teammates in closer in a group hug. "I love you guys," he said.

Pyrrha smiled and wrapped an arm around him, hugging him back as the others did the same. She smiled softly and rested her head on his chest. "We love you too Jaune."

* * *

 **I'll be the first to admit that I don't think this was my best chapter. For whatever reason the dance was just so hard for me to write properly, and get all the proper emotions across. I do hope y'all enjoyed it of course, and I do promise that the next chapters will be better.**

 **It seems Jaune has more than a bit of contempt for the General and his machine men. Not surprising when you take into account Nathaniel's influence, and the fact that he and Talon effectively got shot in the face by one. Will this damage future relations with Atlas? *shrugs* I dunno (okay I do, but I ain't sayin anything).**

 **Cinder's infiltration of the CCTS tower went off without a hitch, and this time Ruby didn't intervene because she was distracted by Jaune and didn't realize what was going on. Naturally Ironwood and the others still know there was a break in, but this time she got off even more scott free.**

 **Crocea Mors makes a return! Bet y'all didn't see that coming, did ya? Me and gdvp111 were discussing what the outfits for Nathaniel and Jaune should look like, and I said I thought they should have dress swords to kind of tie the whole thing together. He agreed, and suggested that I could do something like having them scrounge up a set from Beacon's armory or stores. Originally I was going to go through with that, but then I thought to myself "wait a minute. This would be a perfect chance to reintroduce Crocea Mors, but how?" So going off of that line of thought I came up with the solution of Oobleck finding them in some old ruins. I figured that it was a reasonable story as old ruins are kind of his thing, and I figured he would be the kind of guy who would have a little collection of artifacts he's found that he takes care of.**

 **I hope y'all thought Jaune and Nathaniel's outfits sounded snazzy and awesome, and that the way they got them wasn't _too_ much bull. Does a semblance that allows you to stay awake for weeks sound ****far fetched? Maybe, but Yang get stronger every time she gets hit like a hot version of the hulk, Nora eats lightning, and Qrow can turn into an actual _freaking_ crow. In my defense, Semblances be hax yo. **

**If you haven't already then please follow and favorite this story. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction then feel free to tell them about this story! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYEEEEEEEE!**

 **P.S... VOLUME 4 AIRS THIS SATURDAY YO. HYYYYYYYYYYYPE!**


	12. Chapter 12

**HEEEEEEELLLLLOOOOOOOO! I'm glad to see there were no complaints about the last chapter, despite that I'm pretty sure it wasn't my best chapter.**

 **Also after watching the first episode of RWBY volume 4... *sobbing* MY BABY BOY IS GROWING UP!**

* * *

"They were here. Ozpin they were _here_!"

"We are very much aware of that," Glynda responded, her voice laden with sarcasm and anger, "thank you James."

"Fantastic, you're aware," he shot back, "now are we going to do something about it, or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what is _right_ in front of us?"

Jaune leaned over to Nathaniel and whispered, "so are you going to get involved in this or..."

Nathaniel shook his head, "I value my skin too much."

During the dance last night someone had infiltrated the CCTS tower. All of the guards had been killed, but they had managed to set off an alarm that alerted Ironwood and every Atlesian soldier within a mile of the building to the break in. The general and his men had rushed to the tower, but by the time they had arrived the infiltrator had escaped. Though numerous cameras had caught them on video whoever it had been had been wearing some type of disruptor that had made all footage of them so distorted that it was impossible to tell anything about the appearance of the infiltrator, even gender. Atleasian technicians were hard at work in the tower trying to discover if the intruder had downloaded any documents or planted anything, but so far they had found nothing, and believed that the quick response by Atlas forces had scared off whoever it had been before they had completed their mission.

Ozpin sighed and held his hand up, which immediately silenced both Glynda and Ironwood. "Bickering will get us nowhere," he said calmly. He turned to face Jaune. "Mr. Arc, the night you and your friends went to try and find information on Torchwick and the White Fang, did they gain anything of use? This intruder could have very well been working with them, so anything you know that can contributes to this conversation will help a great deal."

Jaune ran through everything they had learned that night in his mind. After returning to Beacon the three groups had pooled the information they had obtained and filled him in. Yang and Neptune hadn't learned anything of use from her friend, While Pyrrha and Weiss hadn't found anything in the string of robberies that suggested a pattern or specific target. Blake and Sun however... "Blake and Sun infiltrated a White Fang meeting and learned that they have a base of operations southeast of Vale, just outside of the kingdom."

"Well I think our next course of operations is obvious then," said Ironwood as he stepped to the window and stared out of it. "We send as many troops as we can to the southeast. Find out exactly what's going on, and eradicate any forces standing in our way."

Personally Jaune agreed with the General on this matter, despite their little... disagreement the night before. A quick and powerful response was needed to ensure anything worse than a break in couldn't happen. Judging by the fact that Nathaniel was nodding to himself Jaune assumed that his mentor agreed with the good general too.

"Why must your answer to everything involve a triumphant display of military bravado?" It seemed that Glynda did not agree, which made both the squire and the knight take a step backwards towards the safety of the elevator. "You treat every situation like it's a contest of measuring d-"

"Glynda!" interrupted Ozpin before she could say anything too vulgar.

Jaune glanced at Nathaniel in shock, who seemed equally surprised by the outburst.

"Well he does," she defended.

Ozpin turned in his chair to face the teacher and the General as Jaune and Nathaniel stepped forward and stopped on either side of the headmaster. "She's right," the headmaster said after taking a sip of coffee, "as much as I would love to end this situation once and for all we must remember that this may go beyond Vale, beyond Beacon. If this truly is a part of some master plan for which we know not the final move, then we mustn't be so bold." He took another sip of coffee, "nor can we risk the spread of panic."

Ironwood turned and faced Ozpin, a pleading look in his eyes. "I have served you faithfully for years," the look in his eyes hardened with determination, "but if you mean to tell me that your plan is to really hold the defenses and _wait_ -"

Ozpin shoved himself to his feet and pointed at the general, "it is not!" Jaune and Nathaniel stepped back in shock from the sudden outburst from the normally calm headmaster. The headmaster relaxed, but didn't sit back down. "You're a general James. So tell me, when you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first? The flag bearer, or the scouts?"

* * *

Weiss couldn't believe Jaune had taken such a foolish risk by telling Ozpin what they had learned from their investigation. It was like the dunce was _trying_ to sabotage them! "That was risky, too risky," she scolded.

He opened his mouth to respond, but then shrugged and looked away from her. "Whatever," he muttered.

With some surprise Weiss realized that that was first word he'd said to her since Neptune had asked her to the dance. Ever since that night Jaune hadn't said a single word to her. While she appreciated the silence, and the fact that he seemed to have finally gotten the message that she wasn't interested, she had to admit that it felt... odd not having him flirt with her.

"I think you handled it well," Blake said, shocking Weiss and everyone else by coming to Jaune's defense.

"He already knew about our investigation anyway," Jaune said, only he was speaking to everyone in the room, not just Weiss. "At least this way we can count on his help in getting to the southeast."

"Or him stopping us," countered Weiss. Both teams RWBY and JNPR had met int RWBY's dorm to discuss the meeting Jaune had attended. She didn't know what about being a 'Knight-Lord' or whatever made him so special that he was privy to meetings between a general and a headmaster of a huntsman academy, but at least it meant he could get information straights from the horse's mouth. The horse being Ozpin, Glynda, and the Ironwood.

"Jaune took the only course of action available to him," said Ren calmly. "By informing our superiors of the hide out in the southeast he has ensured that, even if _we_ are not the ones who go there, someone will who can deal with the White Fang."

This time it was Weiss turn to shrug and look away.

"Well enough talking about hide outs and evil terrorist organizations," said Yang as she picked up a tube from off the table. "Rubes and I got a package from our dad, and we're gonna open it!"

"Ooh something from home!" squealed the little reaper as she zipped up Yang and tried to grab it out of her sister's hand, to no avail.

"what is it?" asked Nora excitedly.

"Dunno," said Yang. She shook it once, and a black cylinder fell out onto the floor. The eight of them leaned closer as it began to rustle and shake, then suddenly unfolded...

Into a black and white Corgi.

"ZWEI!" squealed Ruby as she scooped the dog up into her arms.

"How..." Weiss dimly heard Jaune whisper in shock, "I don't think dogs are supposed to be that... flexible. Are they?"

"He sent a dog?!" shouted Blake.

"In the mail?!" shouted Weiss and Pyrrha.

Ruby was too busy laughing and being licked by the family pet to respond. "Oh he does stuff like this all the time," said Yang.

"Your father or your dog?" asked Blake and Ren, who had both somehow managed to get up into Ruby's bed without anyone noticing.

"...Yes."

Pyrrha, Weiss, and Nora leaned closer to Zwei, then squealed and started petting him. Weiss vaguely heard the blonde dunce mutter something about a dog getting more action than he did, but she was far too focused on the absolutely _precious_ little bundle of love and doggy kisses before her to respond. Zwei barked and wriggled around in Ruby's arms, then dropped down to the floor and scampered away from them on his adorable little stumpy legs...

And then leaped into Jaune's arms.

With a shout of surprise Jaune caught the corgi as the dog began yapping gleefully and licking his face. "Hey you mangy mutt," laughed Jaune as he scratched Zwei behind the ears, the dog still licking him. "Oh you're a sweet boy aren't ya? Yes you are, yes you are!" Weiss could not believe her luck, or lack thereof. Their team gets an adorable little puppy dog, and it liked Jaune the most?!

Yang laughed and took Zwei out of Jaune's arms. "Sorry about that. You kind of look like our dad, so I guess Zwei mistook you for him."

"It's fine," Jaune said as he pulled up the edge of his shirt to wipe his face. Weiss glanced away from his bare and (admittedly) well sculpted abs while Ruby and Pyrrha took the brief opportunity to drink in the sight. "My family has a dog back home, so I'm pretty used to it." He pulled his shirt back down and patted out the creases.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said with clear panic in her voice, "I can't believe I haven't asked this already, but have you talked to your family about Talon?"

"Oh yeah," he said, "I told them as soon as we got back to Beacon from the sanctuary. I try to go to the tower every couple of weeks to talk to them. They were... shocked, to the say the least, but now they think it's awesome. My little sisters have made me swear that I'll let them ride Talon when I come visit during the semester break, my twin apparently uses my fame to score dates, which isn't too surprising for Jean, and my parents apparently put up a sign over the door to the house saying 'proud Gryphon Knight parents'."

"That is so dorky," giggled Nora.

"Where do you think I got it from?" The squire responded dryly, "this is pretty standard. If my village was big enough for a car they'd be those people with the little stick figure family on the back."

Suddenly the P.A. system crackled to life. _"Will all first year students please report to the_ _amphitheater."_

Weiss frowned in thought and looked at Zwei. "We can't exactly leave him here while we're gone for a week."

Yang looked into tube Zwei had come in. "Oh hey, there's a letter." She pulled it out and started reading it. "Dear girls, I've got to leave the island for a few days, so I'm sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both, Taiyang." Yang turned the tube upside down, and dozens of cans poured out of the tube, far too many to fit in there, let alone with an animal.

"How..." whispered Jaune in utter shock, "that makes no sense." For once Weiss found herself agreeing with the dunce.

"Well what's he gonna do with those?" asked Nora. Yang shook the tube and a can opener fell out. "Oh! Okay!"

"I guess we should get to the ampitheater," Yang said, "Zwei will be here when we get back."

As the eight of them filed out of the room Weiss stopped to pet Zwei "Oh I'll miss you so much we're going to be best friends I can't wait to see you again!" Quickly she followed the others, not realizing that Ruby had stayed behind for just a few seconds.

* * *

"Quiet. Quiet please," Glynda said as the last of the students filed in. Jaune, along with the other members of JNPR and the girls of RWBY, was in the back of the Vale formation of students. It was intriguing to to the squire to see the mannerisms and dress of the different academies gathered in one place. On one end of the spectrum you had Vacuo, which was less a formation and more a blob of students in outfits of all kinds. On the other end of the spectrum you had Atlas, with every student in their bland gray uniforms lined up in perfect rows of ten, their arms behind their backs as they stood at ease. In the middle of this spectrum was Vale and Mistral. The students of both schools were more or less in formations of some kind, and while most were in their school uniform some, such as teams RWBY and JNPR, were in their normal attire. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin." Glynda stepped away from the microphone, and the headmaster stepped up to it.

"Today we stand together, united. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, greed, and oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. As you are well aware that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself." He smiled. "Color."

"It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come, and it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity, _through_ diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united, but this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen and huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdoms for several days, others may work within the walls for the rest of the week, but no matter which path you choose remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best." Applause filled the auditorium as the headmaster stepped away from the microphone, and students from every academy started walking towards the hologram screens displaying the different missions available.

"This is perfect!" shouted Ruby, "all our teams have to do is shadow huntsmen working in the southeast."

"We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip at night," agreed Yang.

"The southeast is still a fairly large area," pointed out Pyrrha, "and we may not even get missions close to each other."

"Then that will allow us to cover even more ground," said Weiss. "Let's check search and destroy."

The two teams walked over to the nearest board and examined the missions listed on it. "Looks like quadrant five needs Grimm cleared out," Jaune said.

"It is in the southeast," said Blake.

"Sounds perfect!" said Nora.

"Except that's only one mission," pointed out Pyrrha, "what about a mission for the other team?"

" _If_ the Grimm concentration is high enough then both of our teams could get assigned to it," said Ren as he examined the board. "It's a long shot, and probably won't be the case, but it's worth a shot."

"Alright then," said Ruby, "we'll apply for it first, then you can." She tapped the mission and input RWBY in the box that popped up. When she hit enter however a message in red appeared on the screen: **MISSION UNAVAILABLE TO FIRST YEAR STUDENTS.**

"Wonderful," sighed Weiss as she shot a pointed glare at Jaune, as though this were his fault. Jaune ignored her, and the ache in his chest at her accusatory glare, and frowned in concentration. He knew he had the security clearance needed to access the vault under the school, but would that clearance extend to the mission board? He didn't know, but it was worth a shot.

"Let me try something," he said. If he had the clearance needed then all he had to do was access the mission system on his scroll, and clear both his team and team RWBY. He pulled out his scroll, opened it...

"That won't be necessary Mr. Arc."

Jaune yelped and put up his scroll, turning to face Ozpin. He gulped and tried to look nonchalant, and failed miserably. "Uh... hello Headmaster," he said, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

Ozpin smiled. "I'm sure you don't Mr. Arc. I think we all know that the eight of you will somehow find your way to the southeast, even if you were to take on missions that took you to the opposite corner of the kingdom. So instead of breaking the rules, why don't we just bend them a little?" Ozpin tapped on his data pad, and the **MISSION UNAVAILABLE** text changed to **APPROVED.**

"Thank you headmaster," said Ruby.

"Do not thank me for this Miss Rose. Teamwork and persistence have gotten the eight of you far, but the things that await you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. The four of you stay close to your huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent home if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory."

Jaune frowned. Ozpin had the four of them needed to stay close to their huntsman, not eight. "What about my team sir?"

Ozpin turned his gaze to the squire. "I want team Juniper to remain within the walls Mr. Arc. Not because I doubt the ability of your team, but because five people will be more capable of scouting out the enemy than eleven, counting two teams, two professional huntsmen, and your Gryphon. And let's be honest, subtly is not Talon's strong point."

Jaune shrugged. The headmaster had a point there, but that didn't mean he still didn't want to go. "I understand sir."

Ozpin smiled and closed his data pad, slipping it into his pocket. "You girls prepare for your mission. Mr. Arc, would you walk with me for a moment?"

Jaune blinked. "Uh, yes sir." He turned to his teammates. "Find us a mission within the walls, then go with team Ruby. I'll be there in a minute."

As the seven of them walked away Jaune walked alongside Ozpin as the headmaster paced around the room, watching the other students select missions. "There was another reason I didn't want your team accompanying team Ruby on the mission Mr. Arc, though I didn't want to say anything in front of your friends."

"I assume it's also the same reason you want my team to remain specifically in the city?" Jaune guessed.

"It is," Ozpin confirmed. "The location team Ruby's mission is in is called Mountain Glenn. Are you familiar with it?"

Jaune nodded. He remembered Oobleck telling Nathaniel about it. "A failed attempt at extending the city, right?"

"Correct. If the White Fang does have a base in the south east, or at the very least _had_ one, then Mountain Glenn is the most likely location for it. If team Ruby does find something then two regiments of the Atleasian army will come crashing down upon the Fang, and when they do I want the Gryphon Knights at the head of the charge."

Jaune was shocked into silence for a few moments. "You... you want me and Nathaniel at the front, sir?"

"Yes," Ozpin confirmed. "It will be a good chance for the world to see you in action again against the enemies of the kingdoms. Watching Atlas troops fight alongside two Gryphon Knights, even if you are technically a squire, will inspire hope in the hearts of the people of Remnant. It also might help mend the gap you created between yourself and Ironwood last night."

Jaune winced and looked away from the Headmaster, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Um..."

"Why did you do that Jaune?" sighed Ozpin, "surely it can't just be because his machine shot you."

For a few moments Jaune stared at the floor without responding. He had his reasons, but they weren't easy ones to say. He sighed and closed his eyes. The image of the Paladin smashing aside cars as it charged after his friends was a memory that would forever be burned into his mind. "Twenty four people died on that bridge sir," Jaune said quietly. "Five of them were just kids. I blame three people for their deaths. Torchwick for piloting the mech, Ironwood for allowing it to be stolen in the first place, and myself for not getting there sooner."

Ozpin was silent for a moment. "You can't save everyone Jaune. You have to understand that."

"That doesn't mean I'll stop trying."

The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes as the amphitheater slowly cleared out. Eventually Ozpin spoke. "Jaune, if team Ruby does find something, if you do join the assault, I need to know something."

"Yes sir?"

"If you had to do it in order to achieve victory, or to protect an innocent life, could you kill another human being?"

Jaune thought about that for a few moments. Could he kill someone, take the life of another person? A person with hopes and dreams? A person who might have a family and friends? A person who loved and laughed and breathed the same air as him?

He thought about battling Torchwick in the Paladin. He thought about how he and Talon and tried their damnedest to tear through the machine and get to the man with intention of ending him. He thought about how the man had killed twenty four people with little to no regard for the lives he had ended, or for the suffering he had caused for the friends and family of those twenty four people.

"Yes," Jaune said, "I could."

Ozpin sighed and seemed to grow older in that moment. "I see. Most huntsmen, even old veterans, wouldn't be able to say that. Most would simply disarm or disable their human foes, but I have to remember that you are no longer a huntsman in training, not really. You are a squire of the Gryphon Knights, who will some day inherit the mantle of Knight-Lord. From what I know of the knights from recovered documents and Nathaniel they had little issue with slaying any and all who would dare harm an innocent life. There was one account I read about a warlord who ruled his land with an iron fist. He was a horrible man, and his soldiers were little better. They subjugated the civilian population of the lands he ruled, raping, murdering, and pillaging with the slightest excuse. That was, until Cailan learned of the atrocities taking place. He personally led a force of five thousand knights against that warlord, and slaughtered his soldiers to the last man. Not one who bore arms for the tyrant lived, including those that tried to surrender, and Cailan personally beheaded the warlord with that very halberd, then burned the corpse. Afterwards Cailan converted the warlord's castle into a fortress of the Gryphon Knights, and what had once been considered one of the worst places on Remnant to live at the time quickly became known as one of the safest places in the world, right up until the fall of the Gryphon Knights." Ozpin gave Jaune a sidelong glance. "You could do that? Kill thousands of men? Or at least give the orders that would result in the deaths of thousands of men?"

The squire crossed him arm over his chest. "I... don't know. I don't want to take a life, but someone like that... is that what the White Fang is like?"

Ozpin shrugged. "Some, but there are more than a few faunus of the Fang who simply feel as though they have no other choice than to fight against the four kingdoms. They're downtrodden and desperate. The idea that you could be a part of something that would change the world... well, for someone who's had almost nothing their whole life, that's a very seductive prospect."

Jaune nodded. In his mind he saw Blake with her bow off the night she confessed to them her past allegiance with the White Fang. Of them all, barring Ren, she was always the most level headed and reasonable, but she was also kind and compassionate. Certainly not a cold blooded murderer. "I think I understand."

"The warlord and his men were evil, fighting for nothing than their own gain, but more often than not the situation is never so black and white. The White Fang is one such situation. Yes they're a threat, and yes innocent people have been killed in their attacks, but the four kingdoms are not innocent in this either. The inability or unwillingness of the councils to accept the faunus as equals, and the violent responses to peaceful faunus rallies, is what eventually drove the White Fang to become what it is today. They are our enemies, and we must fight them, but that doesn't mean we can't hope to mend the divide. More often than not compassion will kill your enemy faster than a bullet, and it may gain you an ally in the process." Ozpin smiled and patted Jaune on the shoulder. "If team Ruby does find anything, and if you do decide to join the assault, remember what I said. Everyone, human and faunus, will be watching to see how you deal with the Fang. As the Gryphon Knights are a bit of an up and coming power it could very well shape the politics of Remnant."

Jaune's mouth suddenly felt very dry. He licked his lips in an attempt to wet them. "No pressure then. Good to know."

Ozpin smiled. "Go see your friends Mr. Arc. If you hurry you should be able to catch team Ruby before they leave."

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." Jaune jogged out of the amphitheater and towards the landing pads. It wasn't too hard to find his teammates and the girls of RWBY. They tended to stand out. The seven of them were standing in front of a Bullhead, and it was clear the girls were about to get on. "Guys!" he shouted. The seven of them turned to face him as he finally caught up. "You headed out already?" he asked.

"Yeah..." muttered Ruby, who didn't look nearly as delighted as Jaune knew she would normally be on her first mission.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

Instead of responding Ruby pointed over her shoulder to a familiar green haired man in the Bullhead who was arranging the bags. "Oobleck's our huntsman," she groaned.

That wasn't too surprising considering where the mission was and the doctor's love for ruins, but still... He winced. "That's rough, but it could be worse. You could have gotten Port."

Yang shuddered, "don't even joke like that."

"Girls!" shouted the doctor, "thirty seconds left to say your farewells!"

Jaune looked to his teammates, "you all said your goodbyes?" They nodded and he turned back to team RWBY. "You girls be careful, got it? Remember team Juniper plus one awesome Gryphon won't be there to pull your asses out of the fire." He said it as a joke, which the girls seemed to understand judging by the smiles on Yang and Ruby's faces, and the scowl on Weiss's, but deep down inside of himself he was pleading for them to be careful. _"Please please please be careful. I couldn't imagine losing any of you."_ He glanced at Weiss, but forced himself to look away before she noticed his gaze. _"Especially you."_

Shoving those emotions down he grinned at the girls. "When you get back I'll get Ren to make you guys pancakes. The special kind with sprinkles."

Yang, Ruby, and Nora cheered for pancakes as Ren's shoulders slumped in resignation. Even Blake and Weiss were smiling a bit. Suddenly Ruby zipped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. "We'll be careful," she promised.

He smiled and hugged her back, "I know, but I would hate to lose you cause you fell down a hole or something. That'd have to be the uncoolest way a Huntress would have ever died."

"I won't fall down a hole," she giggled as she unwound her arms from around him.

"Girls! Five seconds!"

"Come one Rubes," Yang said as she picked her little sister up by the hood of her cloak and carried her into the Bullhead. She dropped the little reaper in a seat and sat next to her. "Stop flirting with Jaune, and let's get this party started!"

"I was not flirting with Jaune!" Ruby shouted back, though the sound was muffled by her hood, which she had yanked down over her head.

Jaune smiled and waved at them as the bullhead lifted up into the sky and sped towards Mountain Glenn. When the Bullhead was gone his hand fell, his smile disappeared, and his shoulders slumped. He felt a soft hand on his shoulder, and he looked over to see Pyrrha standing next to him. "You're worried about them, aren't you?"

"Yeah," he admitted as he watched the Bullhead shrink in the distance. "I know they're all way better fighters than me, but that doesn't stop me from worrying, you know?"

"Especially for Weiss?" the champion asked. Jaune shrugged and looked away, but didn't answer. He didn't have to.

A pair of arms wrapped around his neck as a pair of legs wrapped around his waist. Jaune stumbled back as the sudden and unexpected addition of Nora's weight put him off balance, but he managed to catch himself before he fell. "Don't be such a downer!" giggled Nora. "Let's go to the cafeteria and see if they have any pancakes!"

He smiled, "you do know they stopped serving breakfast several hours ago, right?"

"Maybe they have some leftovers we can have!" Nora leaned to one side and then the other, forcing Jaune to adjust his stance so they didn't crash to the floor. "Come on fearless leader! Please can we go check? Pleeeeeeeeeeease? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-"

"Okay okay!" he laughed, "we'll go check as soon as you get off my back, and I do mean that literally."

Nora frowned in thought and unwound an arm around his neck to stroke her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm... nope! I'm a sloth right now, and sloths don't do anything themselves, right Renny? Pyrrha?"

The ninja smiled, "right Nora."

"I do believe that's the case," giggled Pyrrha.

Jaune couldn't help it. He burst out in laughter at the ever unexpected antics of his teammates. By Vaya, he loved his team.

* * *

Jaune stepped back as Talon swooped in for his landing and came to a halt on the landing pad. Nathaniel hopped off the back of the Gryphon and grinned at Jaune. "I'm never going to get tired of flying."

For the past couple of weeks Nathaniel had been practicing riding Talon after Jaune. The three of them had decided that it would be best if Nathaniel was capable of riding Talon, should anything happen that kept Jaune from getting to the Gryphon. Nathaniel had, perhaps unsurprisingly, quickly proved to be a natural at flying. Within the span of a couple weeks he had caught up with Jaune, and was on the fast track to surpassing the squire. Honestly it didn't surprise Jaune one bit. His mentor was a fully fledged Gryphon Knight, even if he didn't have his own Gryphon.

"Jaune? Are you coming?" The squire blinked and came back to reality. He'd been staring off into space, or to be exact in the direction that team RWBY's bullhead had taken when it had left.

"Yes sir, I'm coming." Nathaniel had removed Talon's saddle to allow the war beast to go find food and left it on the ground for Jaune. Anyone else might think that Nathaniel was being lazy and forcing Jaune to do all of the heavy lifting, but this was a part of his training. Talon was still the blonde's Gryphon, and thus caring for the war beast and his equipment was Jaune's job. He picked up the saddle and jogged after Nathaniel. "Sorry, just thinking."

"About team Ruby?" guessed Nathaniel.

Jaune nodded and had to resist the urge to pull out his scroll and text Ruby to be sure they were okay. He told himself that they were more than capable of defending themselves from Grimm, and that they had Oobleck, who was a professional huntsman, if a hyperactive one.

But he couldn't silence the growing dread in his heart.

"I'm worried about them," he admitted. "I know they're all way better fighters than me, and they have Oobleck, but I just... I'm really worried. That's probably silly, me being worried for a group of people who could take me apart in a fair fight."

"Perhaps not as foolish as you think," said Nathaniel. He glanced around to be sure they were alone before continuing. "Remember, you know who our true enemy is, your friends do not. It's natural that you would be concerned for them. They think of the Grimm as mindless and leaderless, and while they are for the most part mindless they are certainly not leaderless. Salem is too weak to personally be a threat, but she retains control over all Grimm. No matter how far away the Grimm are they bend to Salem's will, a fact that makes her even more dangerous when you take into account just how powerful she will be when she does eventually rise."

Jaune frowned. "How is she so powerful, and isn't Vaya just as strong? Couldn't she kill Salem?"

Nathaniel shook his head and frowned in thought. "It's... hard to explain, but I'll try to. I've told you that Vaya isn't all powerful. Her strength does have its limits, and this is also true for Salem. In the beginning both of them were equally powerful and thus incapable of killing one another without assuring their own destruction. In the beginning Salem ruled Remnant, and her Grimm roamed the eternally dark world. Vaya brought life and light to Remnant, but at the cost of her own power, forcing her to rely upon her strongest creations to battle Salem, woman and man."

"But Salem created the Grimm, didn't she? Wouldn't she have had to expend her own power to do that?"

"Yes, but it's different. You see, Grimm aren't really alive. Yes their hearts beat and their brains work, but they don't have _souls._ Making physical forms is easy for Vaya and Salem, and the amount of power they expend in doing it is so unbelievably minuscule that it's not even a concern for them. Souls however are another matter. Living things created by Vaya, from men and women to the smallest bug, have souls, and thus have aura, albeit at varying levels. Bug souls are the weakest, while human souls are the strongest. The soul of one human being is worth quite literally billions of bug souls."

"Souls are fragments of Vaya's own power that she gifted to us to give us the ability to have free will," the knight continued, "Grimm do not have this. They are wholly subservient to Salem and her will. Even the smarter ones capable of making decisions don't actually have free will, because every decision they make is for the singular task that Salem has given, which is the destruction of all humanity. Even now Salem continues to create Grimm despite her weakened state, because the loss of power from creating their physical forms is so small it doesn't even matter. On top of that when a Grimm dies the power she expended in making it returns to her, allowing her to make another Grimm."

"But if that's the case then doesn't mean that when a person or animal dies its soul returns to Vaya and strengthens her?"

"It does, but much like the power Salem gains from a slain Grimm the power that Vaya re-obtains from those souls is quickly dispersed as more beings are born. Living things are born and die at such an even rate that Vaya's power is usually balanced at a certain level. Certain things such as devastating wars, times of great peace, or ecological disasters can strengthen or weaken her depending on how many lives are lost or brought into the world, but eventually her power returns to that state of equilibrium. That is why she needs us to battle Salem. The only way Vaya could ever be strong enough to defeat the dark goddess would be if everything she ever created was to die, but she doesn't want that. Vaya gave us souls willingly, and wants all living things to thrive as best they can on Remnant."

"Well... that's a bit terrifying. Does that mean that every time I eat meat I'm going against what Vaya wants?" Jaune hoped that wasn't the case. He really liked hamburgers.

"No," Nathaniel said, "where there is light, there must be darkness, and where there is life, there must be death. Vaya understands this, and understands that living things will struggle against one another to survive. The strong dominate, while the weak are subservient. That is why Gryphon Knights exist. We are the strong that defends the weak against those strong that would wish to harm them, be they human or Grimm. Our primary role is to protect, a task that involves more than a little offense. In killing those who bring harm to the weak ones we do our duty to Vaya and the world. It's not pretty, it's dangerous, but it _is_ rewarding in its own way."

Jaune thought back to his conversation with Ozpin. He had told the headmaster that he could kill someone to achieve victory or protect an innocent life, and he had meant it, but that didn't mean the idea of having human blood on his hands didn't make Jaune shudder.

However, if killing one evil person meant saving more innocent lives, then wasn't it worth it? In the end didn't ensuring the safety of even just one person make it all worth it? "Yeah," Jaune said, "I suppose it can be pretty rewarding."

* * *

He stood in someplace completely devoid of light. The squire turned in a circle with Brillant Mors in hand, trying to get a feel for where he was, but there was nothing. No light, no sound, not even smell. The air was completely flat.

Suddenly there was a light in the distance. Jaune began walking towards it, and after a few seconds it became brighter as he drew nearer and he was able to make out shapes in the light, shapes that quickly solidified into the silhouettes of people. These silhouettes soon changed into the forms of the other members of JNPR and the girls of RWBY. They were running to him with arms outstretched, and Weiss was at the head of them. Jaune smiled and picked up the pace, running towards his friends with joy in his heart.

However as he drew closer to them he saw that his friends were not smiling. Rather their faces were twisted in horror as they ran not just to him, but _away_ from something.

 _Thud._

 _Thud._

 _THUD._

Footfalls. Something was chasing his friends. Something big, and it was gaining on them. With fear gripping his heart Jaune sprinted towards his friends. Brillant Mors gripped in one hand Jaune reached his other out to them, but he was still so far away from them.

Then he saw it.

It's massive black form was illuminated by the light flowing from his friends. It walked upright, like a man, but its legs ended in cloven hooves, like a goat's. It's legs, chest, and arms were protected by white pieces of bone, and it gripped a massive scimitar in one hand that was as black as a starless night. Two red eyes glowed in their sockets with blood lust and glee as the monster raised the weapon.

Jaune ran as fast as he could towards his friends, but he knew it wasn't fast enough. The scimitar shrieked in blood lust as it sped towards his friends.

The last thing Jaune saw before the black blade slammed home was Weiss's terrified eyes filled with tears, her hand reaching out to him imploringly, silently begging him to save them, to save _her_. Her lips parted and she screamed his name as the scimitar came down on them all.

 _"JAUNE!"_

* * *

With a strangled gasp Jaune bolted up in his bed as his hands scrambled for Brillant Mors. He grabbed the ancient halberd in both hands and held it tightly to his chest, shaking in fear.

His scroll went off. Jaune picked it up, and saw with ever mounting dread that it was Ruby. With shaky hands he accepted the call and held the device to his ear. "Ruby? What's- gah!" The only thing that he could hear was a burst of static before the call was cut off from Ruby's end. Jaune stared at his scroll, the dread reaching a fever pitch in his heart.

Something was wrong. First it was the dread, then it was the dream, then Ruby tries to call him? He didn't like this. The squire got out of bed and began putting on his normal clothes and his armor, being sure not to wake his friends. According to his scroll it was 6a.m. Team JNPR's mission, which was patrolling the wall, wasn't scheduled until 10a.m, so there was no point in waking them up when they had plenty of time to sleep. He slung Brillant Mors across his back and silently headed out into the hall, shutting the door softly behind himself. The cafeteria staff hadn't gotten breakfast set up yet, but there was always a selection of healthy snacks laid out in the cafeteria for the late night studier who needed some energy. Jaune placed a couple of muffins and an apple along with a granola bar on his plate, then got a glass of milk. He shoveled the food down his mouth in less than three minutes and put the dishes in the dish washer window, then exited the cafeteria, then the school. He walked to the bullhead pads and just stood there, staring out at the city of Vale.

The dread hadn't decreased, if anything it had grown, and the nightmare was still fresh in his mind. Normally they would fade into nothing within a few seconds of waking up, but the image of his friends' horror stricken faces burned in his mind, and the sound of Weiss screaming his name rang in his ears.

Something was coming. Jaune could feel it.

Jaune pulled out his scroll and dialed in Nathaniel's number. It rang three times before the knight picked up. "Jaune? Is everything okay?"

"How much of Talon's armor is ready to be used?" asked the squire. The two of them had been working on armor for the Gryphon and had gotten some pieces completed, but not much.

"Just the chanfron and peytral, why? Is something wrong?" He could hear the knight push himself out of bed. Metal clanked over the phone and Jaune knew Nathaniel had set his phone to speaker and laid it on the dresser as he began putting on his armor.

"I... I don't know," Jaune admitted, "but I feel like something's wrong. It's just... I can't explain it, and now that I'm saying it out loud it sounds stupid, but I want to be ready, just in case. Can you meet me in the forge and help me get Talon's armor on?"

"Of course. Get Talon, and I'll meet the both of you there."

Jaune ended the call and focused on Talon. To his surprise the Gryphon showed up almost immediately. _"I could feel your distress all the way from the Emerald Forest. What's wrong?"_

"I don't know, but I want to be ready. We're going get the armor that's ready on you just in case." The squire and the Gryphon jogged over to the forge, which was separate from the other buildings of Beacon, due to the fact that some of the projects that went on in there were volatile in nature. Nathaniel was already inside and waiting for them. The three of them jogged over to their private wing of the forge and grabbed talon's saddle, along with the two pieces of armor.

Jaune strapped the saddle to his Gryphon first. Talon didn't like wearing the saddle when they weren't about to fly, but the Gryphon knew that the situation was serious and didn't complain. _"What has you so riled up? I was out hunting in the forest when I felt dread radiating off of you like heat off of an inferno. I thought you under attack at first."_

 _"I just don't know,"_ Jaune responded as he strapped the saddle on. _"When team Ruby left for their mission I felt worried, but I figured that was just because they were my friends and I was just being protective. But this feeling hasn't gone away. It's been getting worse every second."_ Jaune finished with the last strap and helped Nathaniel move the peytral into position. _"I had a nightmare while I was sleeping, but it didn't feel like just another nightmare, and it's still clear as day in my head."_

That sparked Talon's interest, and his worry, if Jaune was reading the emotions coming from the war beast correctly. _"What happened in the dream?"_ Jaune recounted the nightmare for Talon, who listened on intently. Jaune finished telling the story just as he and Nathaniel had strapped the peytral firmly in place. They moved onto the chanfron and placed it in between his eyes. It was a simple piece, devoid of decoration or eye protection, as aura took care of that. _"That is very worrying,"_ the Gryphon said, " _Cailan would often have nightmares, but sometimes they were more than that. On occasion he would have glimpses of the future, though they were muddled and didn't show exactly what was happening, but rather fed him small snippets of information. Your nightmare was likely a vision of the future, and the creature you described sounds like a Grimm judging by the bone plates and black skin."_

Jaune felt his heart freeze over. Team RWBY was on a mission to exterminate Grimm...

 _"I don't think they're in danger right this moment,"_ corrected Talon hastily, _"if they were being attacked by this Grimm right now I think you would know."_

The two of them secured the chanfron and Nathaniel left the room to go get something, leaving Jaune and Talon alone. "So what do I do?"

 _"What you're doing right now. You're preparing to face whatever this Grimm is, wherever it may be. Normally I would say that we don't know when it could attack, but judging by the sheer amount of dread building up within you I think it's safe to say that it will be today."_

"Jaune." The squire and Talon turned towards Nathaniel, who had returned. In his hands he held out a mail hauberk to Jaune. "I wanted to give this to you at the end of the semester as a surprise, but considering that something's obviously got you riled up I think it would be best if I gave it to you now."

"Thank you Nathaniel," Jaune said earnestly as he removed his breastplate and spaulders, then took the hauberk and pulled it on over his shirt. The bare mail was cold on his arms, and Jaune made a mental note to exchange his sleeveless shirt for one that was long sleeved and thicker. He strapped his breastplate and spaulders back on over the mail and gave himself a quick inspection. The hauberk went down to his knees and elbows, and had a slit on the front and back that would allow his legs free movement and wouldn't restrict his ability to mount up on Talon. "It's perfect."

Nathaniel smiled, but it disappeared under a worried frown. "Perhaps now you can go into more detail about what has you so worried?"

Jaune quickly explained the situation to Nathaniel as the three of them the forge and headed back to the bullhead pads. A few other people were up and about now, and the three of them made sure to stay out of hearing range of anyone else they saw. A few Bullheads had landed on the pads, no doubt awaiting their teams to arrive so they could shuttle them off to their missions. When the squire was done Nathaniel nodded thoughtfully. "Talon's probably right about your nightmare being a vision. As both Cailan's descendant and the champion it makes sense that you would have the ability to see the future, but what you saw is... disturbing. I've never heard of a Grimm that walks upright like a man and uses a weapon. It's likely that this is some sort of new creation of Salem's. We should be on our guard."

"So, that's it?" asked Jaune, "we just wait for something to happen?"

"Not quite. We can inform Ozpin and Ironwood. I think Ozpin will believe us, and with him on our side we should be able to convince the general to at least have his men on stand by."

"Jaune!"

The squire turned towards his teammates, who were jogging out of the academy towards them. He forced a smile onto his face. "Hey guys. Sleep well?"

"Ooh! nice outfit!" said Nora.

He kept that fake smile on his face. "Thanks. Nathaniel made it for me. It'll be a big help in making sure I don't, you know, die."

"What were you two talking about?" asked Pyrrha curiously.

Jaune opened his mouth to tell her, then closed it and looked at Nathaniel. He trusted his team with his life, but he didn't want to worry them needlessly. Nathaniel nodded. "They need to know."

Jaune turned back to his teammates who now looked confused and worried. "Guys, last night I-"

Sirens began to wail in the distance and were quickly echoed by the alarms on Beacon grounds. Jaune turned and looked to the city of Vale with fear in his heart. A plume of black smoke was boiling up from the middle of the city. "No..." he whispered.

Vale was under attack.

The six of them stared at the plume of smoke in disbelief as the sirens continued to wail. The screams of terrified civilians could barely be heard over the sirens. Those screams were what snapped Jaune out of his trance.

He turned to his mentor. "Nathaniel! go to the school and round up everyone, and I mean _everyone_ , and get them into the city!"

"Yes lord!" shouted the knights as he sprinted towards the school.

Jaune turned to his teammates. "Get on a Bullhead and tell the pilot to take you to the city! Move!"

The three of them ran towards the nearest Bullhead as Jaune hauled himself into the saddle. Just before he could take off at least a dozen people ran up to him. They were other huntsman in training teams who had been outside when the sirens had sounded. Jaune looked at them, and saw in their eyes the same fear he felt in his heart. None of them knew what to do. Grimm getting past the walls of Vale was... unheard of. It had never once happened ever since the walls had first gone up. A student at the front of the group gulped and hefted his weapon. Jaune focused on him, and saw to his shock that it was Cardin.

"What do we do?" he asked Jaune.

Jaune pointed to the bullheads. "Cardin, I want all of you to get on a bullhead and get to the city. Kill every Grimm you see, and get the civilians away from the fighting."

"What if it's White Fang?" asked someone in the back of the group.

 _"If you had to do it in order to achieve victory, or protect an innocent life, could you kill another human being?"_

Yes. Yes he could.

"If it's White Fang then you do whatever it takes to stop them and keep the civilians safe. If that means killing them, then you kill them. Got it? Good, then to the Bullheads! Move!"

As the students rushed to the Bullheads Talon tossed his head back and shrieked into the sky, then tore down the landing pad in a full sprint towards the edge. The Gryphon spread his wings and leapt off. With a single flap of his massive wings Talon shot up into the sky and hovered there as Jaune watched the students begin piling into the bullheads. _"They have found a leader in you Jaune. They will follow you to victory."_

The image of the massive Grimm crushing his friends with its scimitar came to the fore of Jaune's mind. "Or to death," he muttered. He raised Brillant Mors and pointed it at the plume of smoke. "TO VALE!"

Gryphon and rider sped off towards the city as the Bullheads followed them to war.

* * *

 **Talk about zero to one hundred real friggin quick. We went from a dance last chapter to Jaune having a nightmare that's actually a vision of the future and fearing for his friends' safety. What will happen? Who knows? (well I know, and lemme tell ya it's gonna be somethin' else.)**

 **I decided to flesh out Jaune's reasons for having an issue with Ironwood and his machines. If you go back and watch the episode where Torchwick is piloting the Paladin you know that there is no way that someone didn't die in Torchwick's rampage, and it would make sense that Jaune would hold himself personally responsible for what he sees as lives he could have saved had he been just a bit quicker.**

 **We see Jaune taking charge and issuing orders to those who were frozen with fear. I know the others are trained fighters and them freezing up like that may be a bit of a stretch, but when you think about just how many students and huntsmen from all over Remnant were at Beacon during the breach, and we only saw a couple teams show up to help fight, it makes you wonder where everyone else was at the time. Maybe they were actually frozen in fear? Maybe RT just didn't have the budget to animate that many huntsmen? either way I took a little bit of writer's liberty with that and used it to my advantage.**

 **If you haven't already then please follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction then feel free to tell them about this story! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYYYYEEEEEEE!**


	13. Chapter 13

**WOOOOOO FRIGGIN HOOOOOO! WE BROKE 200 FOLLOWERS! IT IS SO AWESOME TO SEE MY STORY GROWING LIKE THIS! THANK YOU GUYS!**

 **Also that new episode of Volume 4 was something. I won't spoil anything for those of you who have yet to see it, but I think I've probably met one of my new favorite characters. (if you don't have a first membership then you can just make a free account and watch it the day after they air for first members. It's way better than waiting a week for it to be on Youtube. Just remember to set your age for eighteen or older if you do. I've heard you can't make a free membership if you don't, though I wouldn't know personally.)**

 **I'm glad to see y'all enjoyed the last chapter. In this chapter the breach begins, and we reach the beginning of the end of the second volume of RWBY. The White Fang and Torchwick (that stylish and possibly bisexual bastard) have blasted a hole in the middle of Vale, and Grimm are pouring out. Team RWBY is already on the scene, and team JNPR along with several others led by Jaune are coming to their aid, with more following behind them. Will it be enough to stop the black tide? Normally yes.**

 **But with the portent of the future Jaune was granted, well...**

 **Who knows what will happen?**

* * *

Weiss stepped to the side as the Ursa's claws smashed into the ground where she had been standing just moments before. With a swift strike from Mrytenaster the heiress punctured the Grimm's throat and it collapsed. She turned to face a pack of Beowulves charging at her on all fours and pointed her rapier at them. A glowing white sigil formed in front of her, and a multitude of glowing orbs flew out of the glyph and hit the pack of Grimm. Each Beowulf was encased in ice, making them prime targets for Yang, who sprinted past Weiss and demolished the frozen pack with two strikes from Ember Cecilia.

Two bullets fired from Ruby's Crescent Rose ripped past Weiss and dropped a pair of Ursa pursuing a group of terrified civilians. The civilians escaped without even being touched by the Grimm, as had many others beforehand, but here and there Weiss could see unmoving and partially eaten corpses on the ground. Not everyone had been able to run fast enough to escape the growing number of Grimm pouring out of the breach.

A hand on her shoulder snapped Weiss out of her morbid thoughts. She turned towards Ruby. "Weiss, try not to use your dust or aura anymore than you absolutely have to. You're running low on both as it is." It was true. Of the four of them Weiss's aura reserves were the smallest, only just behind Ruby's, and she had used more of it than the others between having to take on that White Fang soldier with the chainsword and forming an ice dust barrier strong enough to protect herself, her teammates, _and_ Zwei and Oobleck from the train's collision with the wall, followed by the detonation of a rather large bomb. Her dust reserves were dangerously low, her aura was deep in the yellow, if not just within the red, and she needed both to form and use her glyphs.

She nodded, "I'll try to." Ruby nodded and zipped off to engage another pack of Beowulves that had been unfortunate enough to catch her eye. A snarl caught Weiss's attention and she pirouetted to the side, causing the Beowulf to fly past her in a clumsy lunge that left it's throat totally open, allowing her to slit its throat with a simple flick of the wrist. Ten more charged after it, howling for her blood as they bore down on the heiress. She couldn't keep a sneer of derision for the beasts off of her face as she flitted around quick but clumsy strikes of their claws and cut throats or stabbed them in the chest. Beowulves were easily some of the weakest Grimm commonly seen. A civilian armed with a rifle who had enough courage and a steady hand could kill one fairly easily as long as they didn't allow it to get too close. More than one was another issue for a civilian, but for a trained huntress, even a first year student, small or even medium sized groups of Beowulves were little threat as long as she kept her focus. With a final jab she finished off the last of the pack and turned to face her next foes, a group of seven Ursa. Certainly more of a threat than Beowulves, especially considering her depleted dust and aura, but Ursa were slower than Beowulves. As long as she kept on the move she would be-

"Weiss! behind you!"

The heiress turned at Blake's shouted warning just as a pair of talons clamped down on her arms, and the Nevermore lifted her into the air. The Grimm was _massive,_ at least the size of the one killed by her team during initiation, if not larger. She struggled and kicked in a vain attempt to free herself, but it was to no avail. It's grip was too strong for her to pry her arms free, and the way they were held straight out by the Nevermore's talon's made it impossible for her to angle Myrtenaster to stab it. "Let go of me!" she shouted in anger as she struggled to free her sword arm. Apparently this particular Grimm could understand human speech, that or fate had a twisted sense of humor, because as soon as she said that the Nevermore released her arms.

Allowing her to drop several hundred feet to the ground below.

Weiss barely managed to stop herself from screaming as she fell. She felt a myriad of emotions as she plummeted to earth helplessly. First and greatest was terror, which was understandable. The second was exasperation. She fought a city's worth of Grimm, battled White Fang soldiers on top of train cars filled with _bombs_ , and this was how she was going to die? Dropped by a _bird_? The final emotion she felt was nostalgia, oddly enough. The last (and first) time she had been dropped by a Nevermore had been during initiation, though at the time the blonde dunce had-

Her emotional roller coaster came to a sudden halt as her downward momentum became forward momentum and an arm wrapped around her waist, pressing her against a chest that was adorned in plate and chain as she was sat firmly in the lap of her savior. She felt the soft downy feathers of a certain Gryphon pressed against her bare legs, and her mind was firmly stuck somewhere between _"oh thank god I'm not falling anymore"_ and _"oh god he's about to spout another cheesy one liner"_ though even she had to admit that in this particular circumstance he had earned the right to a single cheesy one liner, but _only_ one.

"You okay Weiss?"

That wasn't a cheesy one liner, but Weiss was so busy being glad she wasn't falling to her doom that she didn't dwell too much on it. "Yeah, I'm okay." She looked up at him and saw that he wasn't even looking at her. Instead he was staring at the battlefield below. His focus was... unnerving, somehow.

"Right there," he said as he pointed his halberd at a massive pack of Beowulves charging the other girls of RWBY from behind. She almost asked him what he meant, but realized he was talking to Talon when he said, "yes, I know it'll be a rough landing, don't worry. I won't let her fall." The Gryphon shot up into the air, then darted down towards the Beowulf pack. The squire's grip around her waist tightened and she was pressed against his chest, her head in the groove of his neck. "Hold on!" he shouted over the howling wind as they flew directly at the rear of the pack at a blistering pace. "This is going to be a _very_ rough landing!"

Her sense of self preservation overriding everything else, Weiss wrapped both arms around Jaune's neck and held onto him and the ground grew closer and closer, until finally, they hit the Beowulves.

Jaune hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said it was going to be a rough landing. If anything he had been understating. Had it not been for his arm around her waist and her arms around his neck the heiress would have been flung out of her seat in the blonde's lap as Talon shrieked in fury and trampled Beowulves underfoot, their bones crunching and snapping as he charged through the pack. The mighty war beast tore through flesh and bone with his claws and beak like it was paper, slaughtering the Grimm around him in a tornado of death as they tore through the startled pack. Though her head was buried in his neck Weiss was able to see Jaune lashing out with his halberd on both sides with one hand, stabbing, smashing and hacking away at every Grimm unlucky enough to be within range of his weapon that slipped past Talon's rampage. She leaned back and looked up at his face, and saw that it was contorted in a furious snarl the likes of which she had never seen on the normally smiling boy's face as he slaughtered the Beowulves on all sides. He unwound the arm around her waist and gripped his halberd in both hands. A Beowulf leaped into the air towards them, but was smashed aside as Jaune struck it with the hammerhead of his weapon with enough force to fling it across the open square. The return swing split another Grimm down the middle all the way to its stomach before Jaune wrenched the weapon free and rammed the spearhead into the eye of another Grimm. Weiss loosened her grip around the squire's neck so she could help, but his hand clamped down on her wrists, stopping her. "Do _not_ let go," he ordered as he continued to fight with one hand, "I didn't save you just so you could fall off here."

She blinked at him, "uh, yeah. Okay." She tightened her grip around his neck and kept herself pressed against him as the Gryphon tore through the Beowulves like they were paper, and eventually broke through the pack. Weiss looked over Jaune's shoulder and saw that what had probably been a group of fifty Grimm had been reduced to at least half of that by the Gryphon's rampage. The war beast skidded to a halt in front of the other girls of RWBY and Weiss unwound her arms from around Jaune's neck and slid off of Talon.

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby happily, "where are the others?"

Jaune looked back towards Beacon, then up at the massive Nevermore which was coming back around. "The others are coming, but that Nevermore needs to go down before they get here." At that moment the winged Grimm swooped down and landed in front of the shattered pack with an earthshaking _thud._ The Nevermore cocked its head to one side and stared at them as the other Grimm flocked around it, perhaps finding some form of leader in it. The Nevermore, which Weiss realized _was_ actually a bit larger than the one at initiation, spread its massive wings, eclipsing the sun behind it. The Grimm tossed its head back and _shrieked._

Weiss's hands clamped down on her ears as the Grimm screamed into the sky. The force was enough to make her eyes water and her eardrums feel like they were rattling in her head. Windows rattled and shook in their frames, and Weiss felt her eyesight begin to blur. Eventually the scream died off, and was replaced by the howls and snarls of the slowly advancing Grimm.

Then she heard Jaune laugh.

He smirked at the Nevermore and patted Talon's neck. "Show it what we've got." He turned back to the girls of RWBY and Oobleck. "If I were you I'd keep your ears covered. If you thought _that_ was loud, well..." he laughed again, "that was nothing compared to what's next."

Talon spread his wings and began to flap them. Even from behind the Gryphon she could feel the wind pushing against her almost like a wall, and the Grimm's advance was halted and then reversed as they tried in vain to push forward against the gale. Jaune raised his halberd and pointed it directly at the large Nevermore. "Now!"

Talon reared up on his hind legs, slammed his forepaws on the ground with enough force to break the concrete, then opened his mouth with a world rattling shriek of pure rage.

Windows shattered, The Grimm howled in pain and collapsed as their ears began to bleed, and the Nevermore stumbled back as though physically struck by the force of the war beast's fury. Talon stormed towards the Nevermore and slammed into it with enough force to shake the ground as Jaune thrust his halberd into its chest. The Grimm screamed in pain as Talon spread his wings and took to the sky, the Nevermore coming with them. Weiss and the others watched in awe as Talon and Jaune tore into the Grimm, claws, beak, and blade ripping its torso apart as the avian Grimm desperately tried to escape. Eventually it managed to break free and tried to fly away, its torso a mess of ruined skin and feathers. Unfortunately for it Gryphon and rider were not done with the monster. Jaune's halberd lashed out and severed a wing from the Grimm's body. It plummeted to earth and landed on top of many other Grimm, crushing them under its weight. Finally dead the Nevermore carcass began to fade as Jaune and Talon swooped down and landed next to team RWBY. "Hold the breach until the others arrive!" Jaune shouted at them as he leveled his halberd at the hole. The next wave of Grimm was beginning to pour out of the opening. "I'll keep the skies clear!" His Gryphon took to the skies in pursuit of a group of Nevermore that had flown out of the breach.

Team RWBY and Oobleck, plus one corgi, rushed to the breach and engaged the Grimm spilling out. Ruby's scythe tore a gap into the black furred mass that Yang rushed into and started firing off her gauntlets off in all directions, widening the gap until Blake and Weiss entered the hole and struck down Beowulves and Ursa on all sides. Weiss ducked under the swing of an Ursa and thrust her rapier up under its jaw, then withdrew it and cut open the throat of a Beowulf as she stepped back. A snarl alerted her to the presence of another Grimm, and she ducked just in time to avoid being struck by the claws of another Ursa. She rounded on the beast and drew Mrytenaster back...

And lowered it as the crack of a rifle filled the air and the Ursa fell to the ground, dead. The heiress looked up to the sky and saw five Bullheads coming in for a landing. Pyrrha fired off two more shots from Milo and waved at the Heiress. "Hello again!" Weiss smiled and waved back as the Bullheads lowered to the point that the huntsmen within could jump out.

Teams of huntsmen in training, along with a couple of full fledged huntsmen, jumped out of the Bullheads and rushed to close with the Grimm still pouring from the breach. Weiss heard a piercing shriek split the air and felt the ground quake as Talon and Jaune collided with the opposite end of the Grimm. The sounds of engines filled the air as more and more Bullheads brought more huntsmen and students in to fight the Grimm. She heard gun fire roar as Atlesian fighters engaged Nevermore alongside Jaune, who had taken to the air again. Atlesian mechs and soldiers poured out of troop carriers and spread out through the city to hunt down any Grimm who had left the square.

As she struck down three Creeps and an Ursa Weiss couldn't help but smile. They were going to win this.

* * *

Jaune grinned as he cut the head from an Ursa Major and slammed the hammerhead into a Boarbatusk with enough force to knock it onto its side, allowing Talon to disembowel it with his claws even as the Gryphon grabbed a Taijitu in his beak and crushed its skull in his jaws.

They were going to win this. The Grimm were slowly but steadily being pushed back to the breach with little to no casualties on their side. What could have been a massacre had been contained before the Grimm could spread to the point they were out of control. "Jaune!"

The squire turned to the voice of his mentor. Nathaniel and Glynda were fighting side by side, her aura manipulation taking down whole groups of Grimm of all kinds while Nathaniel killed anything that slipped past her. With two swings that were so fast they seemed like little more than blurs to Jaune the knight cut down two Ursa Major, then closed with a Deathstalker and cracked open its carapace with two strikes from the hammerhead of his own halberd, then rammed the spearhead into gap he'd smashed open in the Grimm's carapace, killing it. The knight wrenched the weapon free and stepped back to Glynda. "We're winning this Jaune!" he shouted, and the squire knew that underneath his helmet he was smiling.

Jaune laughed, "that seems to be a popular opinion!" And it was a true one. The Huntsmen, soldiers, and mechs had driven the Grimm to the very edge of the breach. No more were coming out of the hole in the ground, and the few left standing were all that were left in the whole city. Jaune smiled at his friends and teammates, who were at the back of of the veritable army and resting along with the rest of the first years. He walked Talon over to them and hopped out of the saddle as the last of the Grimm were cut down. "Are you guys okay? No one's hurt?"

Pyrrha smiled, "we're fine Jaune. No one's hurt."

He looked at the girls of RWBY. "You four were here the longest. You're _sure_ you're all okay?"

To everyone's surprise, especially his own, it was _Weiss_ who answered. "We're fine Jaune. Tired, and sweaty, but fine." She looked away from him, a slight pink tinge on her cheeks. " I suppose I should thank you for catching me."

Immediately countless flirty responses flew through his mind at breakneck pace, each one better than the last. Jaune opened his mouth, then bit down on his tongue hard enough to draw blood to shut himself up before he said something that would ruin what was quite honestly the first real moment between the two of them.

Swallowing his pride, a little bit of blood, and more than a bit of jealousy for a certain bluenette, Jaune smiled. "Anytime Weiss. That's what friends are for."

Her eyes widened in surprise, and Jaune knew she had been expecting another one liner. He shrugged and looked away, scratching the back of his head. For a few moments there was awkward silence between the two of them, but with a certain ginger nearby such things were guaranteed not to last long. She leaped onto his back and clung to him tightly like she was a sloth hanging on a tree. "That was fun! Think there will be anymore Grimm to squish Jauney?"

Immediately the dream he'd had returned to the fore of his mind. He saw the scimitar coming down on top of his friends, his friends' hands reaching out to him imploringly, Weiss's voice screaming his name in terror.

 _"JAUNE!"_

 _"If it comes, I'll kill it. I won't let it take anyone from me. Not my teammates, not Weiss, not the other girls of team Ruby. Not anyone."_

"Jaune? Jaune!"

Pyrrha's hands on his face snapped him out of his trance. It wasn't until that moment that he realized that Nora had released him, his lips were peeled back in a furious snarl, or that his fist was clenched tightly around Brillant Mors and his entire body was shaking with rage. "Jaune!" his partner shouted in panic, "what's wrong?"

Talon's beak bumped against his back. _"Calm yourself Jaune. They don't know what you've seen. They don't understand your rage."_

He took deep shuddering breaths, forcing his heart beat to slow down and the snarl to drop off of his face. His grip loosened and he leaned against Talon's flank. "I'm fine," he said as he ran a hand through his hair, "I'm alright. Just a bit... tired." _"That thing hasn't come yet. Does that mean it won't today?"_

 _"Is the dread still building up within you?"_

It wasn't, not anymore. But what did that mean? Was it gone, or had it just built up to a point where it could no longer grow?

"That didn't look like tired Jaune," Ren said. He stepped forward in a very un-Ren like display and grabbed Jaune's chin, forcing the squire to look him in the eye. "What's really wrong?"

Jaune laughed and pulled his head away, "guys, really. I'm fine, okay? Just tired." He smiled at them all. "What do you say we all go back to Beacon and rest?" He nodded to team RWBY. "You guys can tell us all about your mission with-"

Then he felt it.

It was overwhelming, all consuming. It weighed on his consciousness like a physical force.

It was pure _darkness_.

He turned towards the breach just as the beast exited it.

A black blur shot out of the breach and into the sky. black leathery wings expanded from its back, shaking the air around the monster as it hovered above the stunned people below. It was at least three times as tall as Jaune, with cloven hooves for feet, and a black scimitar gripped in one hand. Red eyes burned with blood lust and hate in equal measure, its lips were pealed back in a bloodcurdling smile, jagged and razor sharp fangs put on display. White bone plates covered its arms, chest, torso, and legs, with horns jutting from its head. The Grimm laughed, a rumbling sound that shook the earth, and raised its weapon above its head.

 **"Champion,"** it hissed, its sibilant voice filling the entire city, **"come face me, if you dare. I am darkness incarnate, created to slay you and lay the path for the era of Grimm. I am the Dark Champion, born to slaughter and raze."**

"W-what is that?" whispered Blake.

"I- I don't..." Pyrrha stammered in shock. She turned to Jaune. "Jaune, what... what is that?"

He didn't respond. He couldn't. His eyes were focused solely on the beast, apparently called the Dark Champion. Even as he processed the sight with his eyes the nightmare was dominating his thoughts once more.

It was Ruby's words that brought him back to reality. "Come on! We have to kill it!"

Before Jaune even fully realized what he was doing he had grabbed Ruby by the hood and yanked her back roughly as she stepped forward. "No," he snarled at her, at all of them. His face was contorted in a furious snarl again, and he had a death grip on Brillant Mors. "Don't you _dare_ go anywhere near that thing, none of you, understand? You stay as far away from it as possible!"

"J-Jaune," Pyrrha stammered as she reached a hand out to him, then pulled it back reluctantly. "I-I don't understand. _We_ don't understand. What's wrong? Why don't you want us to go near it?"

He couldn't tell them, not right now. All he could do was make sure they stayed away from it. "Promise me. All of you promise to me _right now_ that you aren't going to go anywhere near that thing."

"Jaune," whimpered Nora. There were actual tears in her eyes. He knew she didn't understand why he was being like this, and the fact that he was making tears come to her eyes almost broke Jaune's heart, but his desire to keep them safe outweighed all else. "Please, we promise not to go anywhere near it, but _please_. Tell us what's wrong."

"I..." he took a shaky breath and ran his hands through his hair. "Just... don't go anywhere near it. I'll explain everything to all of you later, I swear, but right now you need to go group up with the other huntsmen. It'll be safest with them."

"What about you?" asked a suspicious Pyrrha.

"I'm going to-"

"go with your team, and let me handle this." Nathaniel placed his hand on Jaune shoulder. "Jaune, you are _not_ strong enough to kill that thing. You know you're not."

Jaune grabbed Nathaniel and pulled him closer. "That's the thing from my dream," he whispered. "I _have_ to. I can't let it get to the others."

"Which is why you need to let me handle this. Jaune... whatever that thing is, it's like no other Grimm I've ever seen. This... _thing_ is weak only to the Light. I can feel that, and I know you can too, if you focus on it."

It was true, Jaune realized. When he focused on the creature hovering above the square, he could feel the power of the shadow radiating off of it. Whatever the Dark Champion was, normal weapons would not harm it much. "Your command over the Light isn't strong enough yet," Nathaniel said. "Give me Talon. With his help I can kill this thing."

 _"He's right,"_ Talon said, _"he and I together have a much better chance at killing it than you and I Jaune."_

For a few seconds Jaune stood there silently, then he nodded and stepped back. "You're right. Talon's all yours. Just kill that thing before it can hurt anyone."

Nathaniel hauled himself up into the saddle, and Talon spread his wings and took to the skies. He hovered there before the Dark Champion, and Nathaniel leveled his halberd at the Grimm. The entirety of the weapon began to glow with white holy light, as though it were a star come down to earth. "Beast! You are not worthy to face the Champion of Vaya! I am Nathaniel, Gryphon Knight of the Order, and I will face you!"

For a few moments the Dark Champion stared at Nathaniel in silence, then began to laugh. It was a sound that sent ice through the veins of everyone near, like the hiss of a snake combined with the whispering of a mad man. **"Face me?"** It licked its lips. **"Very well. I've never feasted upon the blood of a knight of the Order. When I'm through with you and the turkey I'll find the boy, and feast on him too."** The Dark Champion raised its scimitar into the air, and tossed its head back with a blood curdling scream.

Howls, snarls, and hisses answered the Dark Champion's call as Grimm began pouring out of the breach once more. Distracted by the sight of the Dark Champion, those closest to the breach were pounced upon by the Grimm before they even realized what was happening. Within seconds the Grimm had pushed back the unprepared soldiers and huntsmen until they threatened to break through and begin spilling into the city once more. "Come on!" Jaune shouted to his fellow first years as he rushed to close with the Grimm. He ducked under the claws of a Beowulf and sank the spearhead of Brillant Mors into its chest before wrenching it free and beheading the beast. He stepped to the side as an Ursa's claws grazed his spaulders and cracked its skull open with the hammerhead of his weapon, then turned and impaled a Creep on the end of his halberd. He lifted the dying beast up into the air and slammed it down on top of another unfortunate Creep. He pulled his weapon free and turned to slam the pommel into the howling maw of a charging Beowulf, stunning the Grimm and knocking it to the ground. A swift strike from Brillant Mors ended the beast, and for the moment the area around him was clear. He looked around for his friends and teammates. They were all taking apart the Grimm with ease, as was everyone else, however the sheer amount of Grimm pouring out of the breach threatened to overwhelm the defenders with simple force of numbers. The Atlesian air units wouldn't be able to help as they were dealing with dozens of flocks of Nevermores, and Talon and Nathaniel were battling the Dark Champion. That battle at least seemed to be going in favor of the Gryphon Knight and the war beast. The monster was powerful, but slow compared to the agility of Talon as the Gryphon nimbly avoided the Dark's Champion's scimitar with graceful ease as Nathaniel repaid its attempts at hitting them with strikes of his own. Black blood oozed to the ground below as the monster hissed in pain and anger, its body riddled with gashes carved by the knight's halberd.

A snarl grabbed Jaune's attention as he turned to face his new foe. A quick swing severed the Beowulf's arm at the elbow, and was quickly followed by a thrust of the spearhead into the throat. He stepped past the fading corpse and shouted to grab the attention of an Ursa tearing its way through a squad of mechs. The beast turned, roared a challenge, and charged at him on all fours. Jaune roared back and charged towards the Grimm, his halberd leveled at it. The two slammed into each other, the spearhead sinking into the flesh of the Ursa as the beast tried to push Jaune back, but Jaune's strength proved to be greater as he drove the Ursa back step by step until he wrenched the weapon free, raised it over his head, and brought it down on the Ursa's skull, bisecting it. A set of claws dragged across the mail covering Jaune's back. The squire turned and stomped his foot down on the Beowulf's knee with enough force to shatter it. The monster howled and collapsed as its leg gave out. Jaune crushed its neck under his boot as he stepped over it and engaged three more Beowulves. His first swing shattered the skull of the one, the return cutting through the torso of another, but the final monster, an Alpha, slipped into his guard and leapt on top of him, driving him to the ground. Jaune released Brillant Mors as he fell and grabbed its jaws in his hands as the beast snapped at him and pushed its maw closer and closer to his neck.

The squire pushed back and slipped his hands into its mouth, grabbing the top and bottom parts of its jaw, and began to pry them apart. The Beowulf Alpha tried to close its mouth against the force of Jaune's arms prying it open, but as the squire rolled them over and knelt on top of the Grimm it quickly became evident who the stronger of the two was. As he pulled its jaw further and further apart the Grimm began to panic, its claws scrabbling on his chain mail and against his face as it attempted to force him to back off, but Jaune ignored the pain of the claws scraping over his face and continued to pull, until finally the monster's jaw was had gone as far back as it could naturally. With a final mighty push he wrenched both ends of the jaw beyond their breaking point with a _crack_ , and the beast fell limp.

Jaune pushed himself to his feet and grabbed Brillant Mors off of the ground and looked around for enemies, but the area around him was clear again. He took the short moment to get a quick stock of the battle. On the ground and on the air it was still much the same as it had been before. Both sides were evenly matched, but as he turned his attention to the battle of Nathaniel and Talon against the Dark Champion... He grinned. The beast was on the ground on the edge of the square. It was down on both knees breathing heavily as black blood poured poured out of countless gashes cut into its skin by the glowing weapon of Nathaniel. It tried to push itself to its feet, but collapsed back down to its knees. A shriek pierced the sky as Talon looped around and dived towards the Grimm. Nathaniel couched his glowing halberd and leveled it at the vulnerable foe as Gryphon and rider shot forwards like a comet. Jaune raised his halberd and shouted in victory as the distance between the Gryphon Knight and the Grimm closed at breakneck speed.

Jaune's cry of victory ended in a strangled gasp as the Dark Champion suddenly leapt to its feet and smashed its scimitar into Talon and Nathaniel.

Gryphon and rider were slammed into the ground with enough force to shatter the concrete. Nathaniel somehow managed to remain in the saddle and retain his grip on his weapon as Talon stumbled to his feet and tried to limp away-

As the Dark Champion slammed his scimitar into both of them once more, then kicked them into a building, brick and mortar shattering like glass as they went through the wall. The wounds on the Grimm healed as the monster hissed in satisfaction and began to walk towards the building Talon and Nathaniel were in.

Jaune did the only thing he could think to do: He ran towards the beast to protect his mentor and Gryphon. He shoved his way through the battling Huntsmen, cutting down any Grimm that got in his way, until he finally broke free of the melee and sprinted towards the Dark Champion. It stopped walking and turned to face him as he drew nearer. It stared at him with eyes the color of blood, then laughed and raised its arms. **"There you are Champion! No longer will you hide behind others eh? You will come and face your death like a man?"**

Jaune skidded to a halt just outside of the reach of its weapons. He raised his halberd at the monster. "I won't let you hurt anyone else." He wished he could keep the quavering out of his voice.

The Dark Champion laughed and bared its crooked fangs in a chilling smile. **"So you think you can defeat me? She has told me of you, little light. You are weak and untrained, a rabbit trying to face a bear."** The Grimm lowered his scimitar. The ground cracked where the tip touched it. **"Show me your power, so called C _hampion,"_** the beast mocked, **"show me the Light of Vaya's greatest warrior. Your mentor's Light could do naught but amuse me. Is yours any greater?"  
**

Jaune focused and tried to draw out the Light. He poured his heart and soul into it, pleading for the strength to win this battle, but all he could manage was a dim glow on his weapons and armor.

 **"How disappointing,"** chortled the monstrosity, **"but not unexpected. She told me you would be of little sport."** It raised its scimitar over its head. **"But even little sport is still more thrilling than nothing. Shall we play** **_little_** **light?"**

* * *

"Should we intervene ma'am?" asked Emerald as they watched Jaune rush to help his mentor.

Cinder smiled. She had been unable to get a chance to kill the squire, but it seemed that it no longer mattered. The Dark Champion of Salem would make short work of the boy, and would ensure victory against the huntsmen, who were slowly but surely losing heart thanks to the seemingly endless waves of Grimm pouring out of the breach and loss of Nathaniel and the Gryphon. When they fell she would be free to search Beacon at her leisure for the Fall Maiden, and claim the power that was her by rights.

"No," said Cinder, "let the beast handle the boy. After all, we have to hang back and ensure that the evil Roman Torchwick doesn't escape in the confusion, don't we?"

the aforementioned criminal huffed and rolled his eyes, but didn't respond. He had been 'captured' by the three of them as part of their contingency plan. The breach had happened several days too early, but Cinder was not the kind of person who wouldn't have a back up plan. That just happened to be a plan that required Roman to be in lock up aboard of one the many large Atlas capitol ships currently engaging the Grimm.

However she had never accounted for the appearance of the Dark Champion. She had thought that Salem would hold such a valuable and powerful tool back until she truly needed it, but she must have been more desperate for the Champion's demise than Cinder had initially thought if she had sent him at the head of a horde of Grimm. The fall back plan for the Vytal festival might very well be unnecessary, but just in case she would keep Roman alive for now. After all if the huntsmen were defeated she could always kill him then, when she knew she wouldn't need the thief's services any longer.

* * *

Jaune rolled to the side as the scimitar cut through the air and impacted where he had been seconds before. He pushed himself to his feet, and then scrambled backwards as he just barely avoided another swing.

To say he was outmatched was a gross understatement. The Dark Champion was far stronger and faster than he was. It was just toying with him. **"This is the best you can do?"** it laughed, **"pathetic does not even begin to describe your attempts at battling me. This isn't even entertaining.** **"** Its lips curled in a sneer. **"I'm done playing with you."**

It happened so quickly that Jaune didn't even realize what had happened until it was far too late. The Dark Champion swung its scimitar far too fast for Jaune to dodge, and the weapon collided with his midsection. The impact split the rings of his hauberk and he was launched through air, skidding to a halt on the other side of the square.

He gasped for air as he tried to push himself to his feet, but when he tried to roll over he clutched his stomach and shouted in pain. _"My ribs are broken,"_ he dimly realized, _"all of them. The force of the blow went through my aura"_ That didn't matter. He had to get up. He had to _fight_.

Again he tried to get to his feet, and again he collapsed as he felt broken ribs scrape against one another and his organs. He gritted his teeth in pain and forced himself to his knees, then gagged and hacked out blood when he felt a shard of bone pierce an organ. He collapsed again, helplessly watching as the Dark Champion stalked towards him. It stopped before and stared at the broken body before him with sadistic glee.

 **"I see into your thoughts little light. You feel fear, but not for yourself..."** it cocked its head to side as it stared at him in interest, **"intriguing... never before have I faced a foe who did not fear for themselves. Instead you fear..."** it grinned savagely, **"for those you love."** It raised the scimitar over its head. Jaune glared at the monster, knowing his doom was before him. He couldn't meet it on his feet, but he could at least look death in the eye.

The scimitar came screaming down towards him...

and slammed into the earth mere inches to the side, missing him entirely. The Dark Champion laughed and pulled the massive blade free. **"I will not kill you yet, oh no. I will make you watch as I take all those you love from you."** It turned away from him and stalked towards the huntsmen battling the Grimm still pouring out of the breach, its scimitar dragging across the ground.

 **"Starting with your Angel."**

* * *

Weiss heard Pyrrha scream Jaune's name and turned towards the champion. She and the other three members of JNPR were struggling against a group of huntsmen trying to keep them from running to him. The heiress followed her gaze, and she saw him.

He was laying on the ground, coughing up blood as that _thing_ stalked towards him. It said something to him and raised its scimitar over its head, then swung it down towards Jaune.

"NO!" shrieked a voice in terror. Weiss realized it was hers.

The scimitar came down, but it didn't hit Jaune. It impacted just inches to the side of him, and the monster pulled it free and turned away from Jaune and began to walk towards the huntsmen. Immediately every huntsman not battling the Grimm began to fire on the monster as it approached them. Weiss gathered up the last of her aura and dust and formed the strongest glyph she could. The sigil glowed as it spun in the air, and a torrent of razor sharp icicles flew out of the sigil towards the Grimm. The icicles shattered harmlessly on impact, not even slowing the monster's steady advance. Weiss stumbled as her vision blurred and just managed to stop herself from collapsing. That had been everything she had left, and it hadn't even slowed it down, just like everything else being thrown at it. Bullets, grenades, rockets, even a few arrows, did nothing to stop the advance of the beast as it grew inevitably closer to them.

It was not until the monster reached the edge of the huntsmen that Weiss realized it was looking directly at her. It roared and charged through the huntsmen as they scrambled to get out of its path lest they be trampled. It was headed directly for her.

Weiss turned to run but didn't take more than a few steps before she felt a large fist close around her midsection and lift her up. With her arms pinned to her side she struggled and kicked, but its grip was like iron. It held her high over its head as flocks of Nevermore swooped down on top of the other huntsmen. Beset from the ground and now by the air too her friends were unable to stop the massive Grimm as it walked away with her still in its grip. It laughed and lowered her until she was even with its face. **"Look,"** it chortled, **"here comes your knight in shining armor to save you."**

* * *

Pain and rage.

That was all Jaune could feel as he forced his body to keep moving forward. He stopped and clutched his stomach in agony as he hacked up blood, then forced himself to keep going. His gaze never left the Dark Champion, who held Weiss in its free hand. He lowered his arm and held her out to him mockingly. **"Come get your Angel Champion! She is here waiting for you!"**

Jaune's lips peeled back in a snarl, blood stained teeth put on display as he limped forward with one hand reaching out to her. She stretched a hand out to him, tears in her eyes. "Jaune," she sobbed, "please stop, you're killing yourself!"

He couldn't respond. His entire existence was dedicated to getting to her, to keeping her safe. To keeping them _all_ safe. His fingers grazed hers, and the Dark champion pulled her back from him. "JAUNE!" She screamed.

Just like in the dream. Just before she died.

He wouldn't let that happen.

He pulled Brillant Mors back and swung it towards the hand gripping Weiss with the intention of cutting her free, but the black scimitar intercepted his weapon and Brillant Mors was wrenched out of his hand and flung across the square with a simple flick of the Dark Champion's wrist. Something tackled Jaune to the ground, and two Beowulves grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to his knees, his arms held out as one tilted his head and forced him to stare at the Dark Champion.

 **"Weakling,"** it hissed. It's grip on Weiss tightened, and she screamed in pain.

"Sto-" his body was wracked with coughs as more blood left his mouth, "Stop!"

It laughed and tightened its grip on the heiress. Her screams tapered off, and she started gasping desperately as the air was forced out of her body. Jaune struggled against the grip of the Beowulves, but they pushed him back down.

Tears came to Jaune's eyes as Weiss's breathing became ragged, and her eyes slowly drooped closed. "STOP!" he roared helplessly.

Her eyes closed, her head lolled to the side as her breathing stopped altogether, and something inside of Jaune broke.

He roared in abject agony as light burst forth from him and incinerated the Beowulves holding him down. The pain was gone, replaced by grief. He reached his hand out and Brillant Mors answered his unspoken command, flying across the square and into his hand. The ancient weapon glowed like a star in his grasp, then light was replaced with holy flames as white fire coated his weapon. He sprinted towards the stunned Dark champion and swung his flaming halberd at the arm gripping Weiss's limp body. The blade cut through black skin and white bone like it was paper, and the Grimm screeched in agony and released her.

Jaune dropped Brillant Mors and caught her still form as the Dark Champion stumbled away and clutched its arm. Jaune didn't care about the monster, or that he could hurt it. All he cared about was the girl in his arms. He dropped to his knees and laid her on the ground. She wasn't breathing. "Please," he sobbed, tears dripping down onto her pale face, "please no." Some part of his consciousness reminded him that he needed to apply CPR, and Jaune started doing chest compressions, counting them off out loud. "One, two, three. Please don't leave me. One, two, three. Oh god _please_ ," he sobbed, "one, two, three..."

He did this until he reached thirty in his head, then tilted her head to clear her air ways, pinched her nose closed, and pressed his lips against hers, pushing air into her system. After one second he broke away and looked down to see if her chest rose. It did. Hope blossoming in his chest Jaune pressed his lips against hers again and pushed air into her system, then went back to chest compressions to repeat the cycle.

He did this once more, then she groaned and coughed as she began breathing on her own. She turned her head to him and slowly opened her eyes. "J-Jaune?"

His whole body shook with sobs of relief as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, pressing her head into his neck. "Thank god," he sobbed as he rocked her back and forth in his arms, "I-I thought you were dead. I couldn't- I _can't,_ lose you. Any of you."

She was silent for a moment, then she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you Jaune."

Howls cut through his relief. He turned to see a pack of Beowulves rushing towards him and Weiss. He released his grip on her and grabbed Brillant Mors, the weapon once again wreathed in holy fire. He stood before her and leveled his flaming weapon at his foes...

then lowered it as they were cut down by gun fire and a familiar mace. Team CRDL smashed apart the pack and skidded to a halt before him. "Jaune!" shouted Cardin with joy, which was something the squire never thought would happen. "You're okay! We tried to come help, but we could't get through the Grimm in-" a hand on his mouth stopped him.

"You want to help?" Jaune asked. The ginger nodded. "Then get Weiss somewhere safe until she recovers." He dropped Brillant Mors and knelt next to Weiss. He took one of her hands in his and looped the other around her waist, helping her up. Cardin stepped forward and took her from him. "Keep her safe, you hear me? Don't let anything get through to her."

"What are you going to do?" asked Cardin.

Jaune held his hand out and Brillant Mors leapt into it, once more coming alive with white fire. The squire's armor gleamed with inner light, as though it had been forged from millions of stars. He turned towards the Dark Champion, who was hissing in pain as he clutched his smoking arm, and leveled his halberd at the monster. "I'm going to rip that thing _apart._ "

"But you're hurt," said Weiss weakly as she tried to stand on her own, to no avail.

"I'm fine," he lied. In truth he could still feel his shattered ribs scraping against one another and his organs, but the raw fury in his heart and power coursing through his body drowned the pain. "Keep her safe Cardin."

He stalked towards the Dark Champion, rage burning in his heart, and he roared at it. "FACE ME!"

The Dark Champion hissed and raised its scimitar, but Jaune could see disbelief in its blood red eyes. **"How?"** it snarled, **"you should not be this strong. She said you were weak, easy prey. How can a novice like you summon such power?"**

Jaune's answer was to charge forward at full speed with his halberd lowered. The Grimm howled and charged towards Jaune, its massive footfalls shaking the earth.

Light and dark clashed in the center of the square.

Jaune side stepped the scimitar and jammed the flaming spearhead of Brillant Mors into the Dark Champion's leg, then wrenched it free and let the beast stumble back and howled in agony at this new smoking wound. The Grimm swung its scimitar at Jaune. The Champion raised his halberd and took the blow on the haft of his weapon. The ground beneath him cracked with the force of the impact, but Jaune wasn't even budged. The Dark Champion reeled back as his blow rebounded and stumbled, its wounded leg unable to support its whole weight. Jaune stepped inside of the monster's guard and slammed the hammerhead into the knee of its other leg with a _crack,_ and the beast collapsed to one knee even as it swung its black blade at him in desperation. Jaune turned and swung Brillant Mors down, axe blade first. The fiery weapon split skin and bone with ease, cutting halfway through the arm. Another swing severed it entirely.

The Dark Champion shrieked and fell to its knees as the severed arm faded into nothing, then reached forward in desperation to grab its fallen weapon with its remaining hand. Jaune let it place its hand over the hilt, then slammed his boot down on its wrist, and began to push down. The beast screamed as bones creaked and grinded as Jaune increased the pressure, until finally it broke with an all too satisfying _snap_.

The Dark Champion whimpered as it cradled its broken wrist to its chest. Jaune pressed the flat of his spearhead against its legs, searing the skin with holy fire. The Grimm scrambled backwards away from him in desperation as Jaune advanced towards it, his face contorted in a furious snarl. "You made one _fatal_ mistake." He drove Brillant Mors into the leg of the monster, then through the leg and into the concrete, pinning the monster in place as it shrieked. He walked up the torso of the beast and grabbed it by one of its horns. He tilted the head back and forced it to look him in the eye. Its crimson eyes were filled with fear of the vengeful warrior of Light before it.

Now the monster was helpless, and Jaune held the power.

"YOU WENT AFTER MY FRIENDS," he roared, "YOU TARGETED SOMEONE I LOVE," he drew his other hand back and curled it into a fist, "YOU MADE ME WATCH WHILE YOU SQUEEZED THE LIFE OUT OF MY ANGEL," his voice dropped to a hissing whisper, blue eyes glowing with fury, "and for that, I'm going to make you _hurt_."

His curled fist was wreathed in flame and he drove it forward into the eye of the beast. He flared his power, and the fire spread over the Dark Champion's body as it screamed in agony, the flames consuming it millimeter by agonizing millimeter.

Soon the beast's screams fell silent and it died, its body thoroughly immolated. Jaune released its charred head and wrenched his halberd free as the body began to fade. The glow faded to nothing, the fire dissipated, and Jaune felt his power leave his body. He turned to the breach and saw that the huntsmen had dealt with the Grimm. That or they had fled when they realized the Dark Champion had died. The crowd of huntsmen, students, and soldiers were all staring at him in awe, but Jaune didn't care. He scanned the crowd and saw all of his friends. Tired, a bit bruised, but alive and mostly unharmed. He saw Weiss safe and sound standing next to Ruby, with Team CRDL close behind her. On the other side of the square Nathaniel and Talon limped out of the building they had been knocked into. Glynda had an arm around the knight's midsection and was helping him walk.

They were safe. A content sigh slipped past his lips as Brillant Mors slipped out of a nerveless grip and fell to the floor even as he himself fell.

As he fell darkness enveloped his sight, but he couldn't help but smile, secure in the knowledge that the ones he loved were safe from harm.

That was all that mattered.


	14. Chapter 14

**HEEELLLOOOOOO! A quick word on some stuff before I get into this chapter. If you haven't noticed already I have taken my story "The Vagabond" down and replaced it with another story called "Blood and Fangs". The reason I took down The Vagabond is because those World of Remnant episodes on the four kingdoms of Vale kinda screwed the story over. While I _love_ how diverse the kingdoms are it caused an issue with Vacuo. The Vacuo I had created was just too different from the one in the actual show, and I just couldn't stand it, especially since Vacuo was a big deal in that story. Thus I have taken it down sadly. Someday I will probably rewrite the story (honestly I could have done some chapters better anyway) and re-upload it, but for now it's gone. For those of you who enjoyed that story I truly am sorry, and honestly I don't like the idea of taking down the story, but I do feel that it needed to be done.**

 **However rejoice in the fact that I am replacing it with a new story for all of you to read! It's rated T for now, but the rating will probably go up at some point. I'm sure some of you may be able to guess at what the story is about from the title of "Blood and Fangs," but for those of you who aren't sure, or can't tell, it's got Vampires in it.**

 **When Jaune learned of Pyrrha's death he was heart broken and wracked with grief. Faced with the knowledge that he had failed his closest friend and partner Jaune did the only thing he could think of: he ran. He did not stop running until he was within the forest surrounding the city of Vale, where he is ambushed by a horde of Grimm. Expecting and hoping to die Jaune fights until he loses consciousness as he fights, certain that he would be killed.**

 **Naturally he did not expect to wake up on a cot in a tent, or to be surrounded by people with fangs, crimson eyes, and skin that burned at the slightest touch of the sun. Their leader, a bear of a man named Hazel, tells Jaune that they are called the Strigoi, or Vampires, and that if he so wished Hazel could make Jaune one of them, granting him strength and speed beyond his wildest dreams along with a host of other unique abilities, giving him the power he would need to avenge the death of his partner and best friend.**

 **However as Jaune learns more and more about the Strigoi and their ways he begins to wonder if his humanity is worth sacrificing...**

 **With that out of the way, I'm glad y'all enjoyed the last chapter. There was a ton of fighting and action, and more than a little feelsiness. In this chapter the battle is won. The Grimm have been driven back, the city is safe, and all with only a few casualties on the side of Vale. Jaune has singlehandedly defeated the Dark Champion, ensuring that a legend has just been born.**

 **Though with all of the damage he has suffered, this legend may very well die the day it was born...**

* * *

"It looks like all you suffered was a minor fracture on your ribs Miss Schnee," the doctor said, "your aura should have it healed up within a couple hours. I doubt you'll need any medical attention or pain medication, so you're free to go. Just try to avoid moving too much to avoid any unnecessary pain."

"Thank you," she muttered. Her gaze was firmly on the floor, but all she could see was Jaune collapsing after killing the Dark Champion. "Do... do you know if Jaune will be..." she couldn't say it. The idea that he could die... she just... she couldn't accept that.

The doctor placed a hand on her arm. Weiss looked up into the woman's eyes. She was smiling at Weiss, but it was the kind of smile people used when they told someone something was going to be okay when they knew it wasn't going to be. "He's still in surgery right now Miss Schnee, but I'm sure he'll be just fine." The doctor stood and grabbed her clip board. "I'll go inform your friends that you're alright Miss Schnee. I'm sure they're anxious to see you." The woman stepped out, leaving Weiss alone in the room. She knew that team CRDL was just outside of the door as some sort of honor guard. Evidently they were still adhering to Jaune's order to keep her safe.

Jaune...

She had been utterly terrified when that thing had picked her up. She knew in that moment that it could kill her without a second thought, that she was utterly powerless in its grip. Then she'd seen Jaune.

The sight of him limping to her, arm outstretched towards her and coughing up blood even as he forced his ravaged body onward was something she knew she could never forget. As the Dark Champion had squeezed the life out of her the last thing she'd heard was Jaune hoarsely screaming at the monster to stop, the last thing she'd seen were the tears streaming down his face as he struggled futilely against the Grimm holding him down.

The first thing she'd felt when she'd awoken had been his tears on her face. The first thing she'd heard was him sobbing her name over and over as he desperately tried to revive her. The first thing she'd seen was Jaune, adorned in shining plate and mail with tears in his eyes. He had hugged her then, his body wracked with sobs of relief as he rocked her back and forth in his arms.

 _" I thought you were dead. I couldn't, I_ can't, _lose you. Any of you."_

 _"He... he really does care about me, doesn't he?"_ That much was obvious now. If he didn't care about her, if he didn't truly have feelings for her, then he wouldn't have put himself through such pain to protect her. Every time he had flirted with her, every time he had driven her up the walls and made her cheeks darken with color had been true, honest affection. All the while she had thought him just another hopeful suitor chasing after her money.

Did she... did she feel the same about him? She didn't know. She wouldn't deny to herself that, while he had at times come on too hard, his words had touched a part of her heart, but she didn't know if that meant she returned his feelings, or if it was just a natural reaction to his words.

His battle against the Dark Champion after he had resuscitated her replayed in her head, but perhaps battle wasn't the best word for it. Watching him fight, she had known that he could have killed that thing within seconds. Instead he had toyed with it, taking it apart piece by piece as he dragged out its agony, making sure that its final moments had been filled with pain as he broke it piece by piece, until finally he had set it alight, ensuring that even its death had been full of suffering.

All because it had hurt her.

 _"YOU TARGETED SOMEONE I LOVE. YOU MADE ME WATCH WHILE YOU SQUEEZED THE LIFE OUT OF MY ANGEL."_

Love...

What did he mean by that? That he loved her in a romantic way? Was it possible to love someone who had treated them the way she had treated him? Perhaps it was, if he still considered her his 'angel'. Suddenly the thought of Neptune using Jaune's nickname for her didn't have the same appeal that it once had.

The door to the room slammed open and the other girls of RWBY along with Ren and Nora poured in. Ruby zipped up to Weiss, but stopped just shy of slamming into Weiss with one of her semblance powered hugs and instead bounced on the balls of her feet with her arms outstretched, silently asking if it was okay to hug her. Weiss couldn't help but smile and held out her arms for Ruby. "I've only got a small fracture on my ribs, so gentle hugs are okay." Ruby hugged Weiss and buried her head in the heiress's shoulders. It wasn't until she felt the wetness on her shoulder that she realized Ruby was crying. "R-Ruby?!"

"I thought you were dead, b-back at the breach" she sobbed. "I w-watched that thing pick you up and carry you off and I tried to get to you, w-we _all_ did, b-b-bu-but there were just so many Grimm and I couldn't get free, then it started squeezing you, but Jaune started glowing and he saved you and he fought that thing, and he was just so _angry_ and now he's in surgery in ICU and n-now he might die and I-I just..." she broke down into tears, her words becoming completely incoherent.

Yang stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Ruby and gently pulled her back from Weiss. "Hey little sis, he's gonna be okay. Jaune's a fighter. He won't let this keep him down." Even as she said the words Weiss could tell she didn't mean them from the look in the blonde's eyes. She didn't really believe he'd make it.

"Jaune _will_ make it," Weiss said with conviction. She glared at Yang, silently daring the brawler to disagree with her. "He won't let something like this stop him. He's strong." She looked down at the crossed hands in her lap. "Stronger than I ever gave him credit for..."

Blake sat down next to Weiss and put her hand on heiress's shoulder. "You can't blame yourself for his injuries Weiss. They weren't your fault."

"But they were!" she shouted, slamming her fist down on the examination table she sat on, "Jaune pushed himself as far as he did trying to save, trying to keep _me_ safe. It's because of me that his injuries are so-"

A finger over her mouth cut Weiss off. Her eyes traveled up the arm of the person who had silenced her. To her shock it was Ren who had silenced her. "The only two who can be blamed for Jaune's injuries are Jaune himself and that Grimm. You may be the one he has romantic feelings for, but he would have done the same for any of us."

Weiss didn't think for a minute that Jaune wouldn't have done the same for any of them, but... "You weren't the ones that thing grabbed. I know he would do the same for any of you, I would never say he wouldn't, but it wasn't any of you he injured himself to protect. It was m-me." She turned away and ran her sleeves over her eyes as it really started to hit her. Jaune could _die_. "W-Where's Pyrrha?"

"She's outside the ICU wing," Nora said sadly. "They won't let her in the wing, but she hasn't moved from her spot outside the door to the wing ever since they wheeled Jaune in."

Weiss got off of the examination table and winced and clutched her side. Ruby went to help her, but she waved her off. "I'm fine. We should go to Pyrrha."

* * *

Pyrrha still couldn't believe it.

Jaune could die, was on the _edge_ of death, and there was nothing she could do. There was no Grimm she had to kill to save his life, there was no physical foe for her to protect him from. All she could do was sit here in front of the door to the ICU wing and wait for the doctor to walk out and tell her the verdict. She stared aimlessly at the wall before her, but she didn't really see it. It was just something for her eyes to rest on while her mind went to a much darker place.

What if... what if he didn't make it? No one had told them the extent of his injuries, but it had been clear from the looks on the medics' faces when they had airlifted him to the hospital that it wasn't good.

"Pyrrha!"

the shout jolted her out of her thoughts and she turned to face the direction it had come from. Ren and Nora along with the girls of RWBY were making their way to her. With shock she realized that they must have gone somewhere, and she hadn't even realized they had left, but where had they gone?

When she saw the white clad heiress she realized that they must have gone to check up on her, and immediately felt bad for not going with them. The champion stood up and walked over to her friends. She smiled weakly at them, "hey guys." She turned to the heiress, "Weiss, are you okay? I'm so sorry I didn't go see you. I just didn't realize that-"

Weiss held up a hand, stopping the crimson haired girl. "It's alright Pyrrha. My injuries are minor, and you're worried about Jaune." Her expression softened. "He's going to pull through you know. He's strong."

Pyrrha wanted to believe that, but what if he didn't pull through? He could die, he could be dead _right now_ , and she didn't even-

Nora's finger pressed against Pyrrha's nose. "Boop." Pyrhha blinked in surprise as Nora's finger left her face. "He's going to be _fine_ Pyrrha. Jauney's not going to let something silly like this stop him. Just you watch, any minute now the doctor's going to walk out of there and tell us that he's going to be just fine."

Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at the short ginger. It hadn't really occurred to her before, but ever since the beginning of this Gryphon Knight thing Nora had been the only of them to have total faith in Jaune's abilities. While Pyrrha didn't think him weak, she had spent more time worrying over him than actually having faith in the blonde boy who, as much as it pained her to admit it, no longer needed her to hold his hand. He needed his partner who worked with him and respected him, not someone who mothered him night and day. She was still worried of course, she could tell that they _all_ were, but she had to have faith in him. "You're right," Pyrrha said, "we have to have faith in him. Jaune won't leave us."

"Right!" cheered Nora. "Now, what do you say we go raid the cafeteria here for pancakes?"

"Nora," sighed Ren, "I don't think they'll have pancakes at this time of day."

"Oh ye of little faith!" She grabbed Ren's hand and dragged him off towards the cafeteria, the others following behind the inseparable pair.

Pyrrha hung back until Weiss was next to her, and put her hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "Weiss, would it be okay if I talked to you in private for a bit?"

Weiss looked at Pyrrha, then turned and nodded to Ruby, who had stopped when she realized the two of them weren't following. "We'll be there in a moment Ruby."

The little leader smiled and nodded, "don't be long." She jogged off after the others, leaving Weiss and Pyrrha alone in the hallway. The two of them made their way over to a corner of the hallway.

* * *

"I wanted to talk to you about Jaune," Pyrrha said quietly, "more specifically, his feelings for you."

Weiss looked away from the champion and rubbed her arm. She had figured they would have this conversation eventually. "I know that he really _does_ care for me," she said. "That's clear to me now." If anyone could say that anything good had come from all this it was that she no longer thought he was after her money, though that was little consolation for any of them.

"It's more than that," Pyrrha continued. "Do you still have the Angel's Rose?"

Weiss frowned in confusion. What did the rose Neptune had given her have to do with anything? "Of course," Weiss replied. "What about it?"

"Well, Neptune didn't buy it from a store in Vale like he'd told you. Do you remember the first food fight between our teams?"

Weiss grimaced, remembering all of the food that had gotten on her throughout the course of the fight. "I do, why?"

"Do you remember what Jaune told you just before the fight began?"

Weiss frowned in concentration, trying to remember exactly what he'd said. She remembered him flirting with her, which had been pretty normal for him at the time, but then something about the Emerald Forest...

 _"I found something in the Emerald Forest this weekend that might change your mind."_

The pieces fell into place, and she finally understood. But if Jaune had found the rose in the forest, why was Neptune the one who had given it to her?

"I don't... I don't understand. If Jaune found it, why did Neptune have it?"

Pyrrha smiled sadly. "Because Jaune gave it to him. The night you went to ask Neptune to the dance, Jaune followed you to ask you, not realizing that you planned to ask Neptune. He saw Neptune turn you down, and let your teammates know to come help you."

Well that certainly explained why her teammates had shown up to help her. "Why didn't Jaune say anything to me?" She may not have had the highest opinion of him at the time, but it wasn't like Jaune to leave someone crying.

"He thought you would be angry with him, so he texted the others while he went to get answers from Neptune."

Weiss had to admit to herself that had he made his presence known to her in that moment she would have been upset with him. "What do you mean, Jaune went to go get answers from Neptune?"

Pyrrha shrugged. "Jaune didn't exactly go into detail about what happened. He just said that he talked to Neptune and convinced him to ask you to the dance, and gave him the Angel's Rose so he could give it to you to ask for forgiveness."

"He..." she leaned against the wall. Jaune had convinced Neptune to take her to the dance, and given him the rose? "Why?"

Pyrrha placed a hand on on Weiss's shoulder. "Because he cares about you Weiss. He was so excited to ask you to the dance, more excited than I had ever seen him before, but when Jaune saw how hurt you were when Neptune refused you he put aside what he wanted to help you." Pyrrha sighed and looked away from the heiress. "Weiss, how do you... _feel_ about Jaune?"

"Are you asking me if I think I like him romantically now?" inquired Weiss.

"... Yes," admitted the champion. Weiss could see the pain asking that question had brought the crimsonette. If Weiss did return Jaune's feelings then that would essentially put an end to Pyrrha chances with the blonde for the foreseeable future.

But Weiss didn't know how she felt about Jaune. Her opinion of him had certainly changed for the better, but she didn't know if she had romantic feelings for him, or if the pounding in her heart when she thought about him was only because he had saved her, and of things he'd said. One thing she did know however was that she didn't want to do anything that would upset Ruby or Pyrrha until she was absolutely certain about how she felt about him.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I know that I have a much better opinion of him now, and when he wakes up I want to try and be his friend, but I don't know if my feelings for him go beyond that. I don't... I don't know."

Pyrrha smiled. "Well I think that, whether or not you do have romantic feelings for him, he at least deserves your friendship, and I think you deserve his."

Weiss smiled back and nodded. "I think you're right."

The two of them stood in awkward silence for a moment, then Pyrrha said, "he's going to be fine you know." Though the words had been directed at her Weiss felt that Pyrrha was trying to reassure herself of that just as much as she was trying to reassure Weiss.

Weiss nodded, "I know he will." He had to. He couldn't just go and die on her, on all of them, just when she'd decided that she wanted to be his friend. She would do _whatever_ it took to help him, even if it meant calling home and talking to her father-

Oh God, her _father._

There was no way he hadn't heard about the breach by now. He was probably on an airship to Vale right now to be sure his precious little heiress was okay. Though if he knew then Winter almost certainly knew about the breach, so hopefully she would be coming too. Weiss sighed and shook her head.

"Are you alright?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yes, just thinking about something. Come on, we should go find the others. Maybe Nora _did_ find pancakes, who knows?"

* * *

Amazingly enough Nora _did_ find pancakes.

As the seven of them ate the syrup covered treats Weiss discreetly looked at the faces around her. Yang was telling her horrid puns to Nora, Ruby was chattering Pyrrha's ears off talking about weapons, and Ren and Blake were conversing about book series they both liked. All of them were smiling and laughing.

All of them were faking it for the sake of everyone else. It seemed that the seven of them had somehow come to some silent agreement that they would refuse to allow the mood to fall until they knew for certain that Jaune was going to be okay. None of them could even dare think about what would happen if the worst came to pass.

"Weiss!"

Weiss and the others turned around at the familiar voice and saw Neptune and Sun running over to them. Weiss pushed herself out of her chair. "Neptune?"

The bluenette wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Weiss gasped in pain as the hug pressed against her injured rib, and he let and backed away. "I-I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

Weiss smiled softly and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm okay, it's just a small fracture. It should be healed up soon."

He wrapped his arms around her again, but was careful not to squeeze her. "I'm so glad you're okay. No one told us what hospital they had taken you to, so me and Sun have been basically scouring every hospital in the city for you."

She frowned and looked up at him. "Why didn't you just call my scroll?"

"I did, but it went straight to voicemail every time. That's one of the reasons why I was so worried."

Confused, Weiss stepped back from him and pulled her scroll out of the pocket on her dress. It had been bent out of shape, and the screen was shattered. She realized it must have been broken when the Dark Champion had grabbed her.

"Is Jaune..." asked Sun, but stopped, leaving the question dangling in the air.

"He's still in surgery," Ruby said as her smile fell, but she perked up and said, "but he's gonna be okay! He's Jaune Arc! Gryphon Knight, Beacon student, and all around cool guy!"

"Yeah..." Sun said as he awkwardly scuffed the bottom of his shoe on the floor.

For a few moments there was silence between all of them. Weiss glanced at Neptune and looked away. As happy as she was to see he was okay... they had to have a talk.

She turned to him, and spoke at the exact same time as the bluenette. "We need to talk."

They both stared in surprise at the other, neither of them expecting the other to say the same thing. "Uh, yeah okay." He pointed to a table in the corner of the cafeteria away from the other people in the cafeteria. "Is uh... is there good?"

She nodded and the two walked over to the table and sat down. For a moment there was awkward silence between them, then once again they spoke at the same time.

"Jaune gave me the rose."

"I know Jaune gave you the rose."

The both of them looked at the other in surprise. "Oh," said Neptune. "I hadn't realized he'd told you."

"He didn't," Weiss replied. "Pyrrha told me a few minutes ago."

"Oh," he said again.

Weiss placed a hand on Neptune's shoulder, then withdrew it. "Why didn't you tell me Neptune? And what's the _real_ reason you turned me down that night?"

"I, um..." he scratched the back of his head. "I didn't tell you Jaune gave me the rose because _he_ told me not to. As for why I turned you down... um... I... I can't dance..."

She stared him. "Come again?"

"I can't dance."

"But... you danced at the ball just fine. I mean sure you weren't the best, but you held your own."

Neptune laughed awkwardly. "Only because Jaune gave me lessons."

Not only had Jaune given Neptune the Angel's Rose, and now that she thought about it Jaune was almost certainly the one who had named it that, but he had also convinced Neptune to ask her to the dance, and then given the boy lessons so that he would be able to dance with her.

Weiss was beginning to feel a bit sick with herself.

"He gave you dancing lessons, after giving you the rose and talking you into asking me out?"

Neptune nodded. "Pretty much, but maybe 'talking to me' isn't bet way to put it."

Weiss was almost afraid to ask exactly what he meant, but ask she did. "Could you clarify?"

"Jaune was _furious_ when he 'talked' to me. I thought he was going to beat me right there in the corridor, but he just kept asking me why I had turned you down until I told him I couldn't dance. He asked me if I really did like you and I said I did, and I do I _swear_ , and his mood just... did a complete one eighty. He gave me the Angel's Rose and told me to go apologize to you and ask you to the dance, and then said he'd give me dance lessons if you said yes. He's the one who named it by the way. The rose, that is."

That... actually explained a lot now that she thought about it. At the time she had thought it odd that Neptune had seemed almost afraid of Jaune the night he had given her the rose, and at the dance he had occasionally sent a nervous glance the blonde's way, as though making sure what he was doing was okay. If Jaune had threatened Neptune with physical harm, especially considering the things Neptune had seen Jaune do, then it made sense that the bluenette would be wary of him. But if Neptune had only asked her to the dance because of Jaune, then what did that mean about how he felt about her?

"Neptune?"

"Yeah, Snow Angel?"

She winced at the nickname. That was another thing she was going to have to talk to him about. "How do you _really_ feel about me? Do you really like me, or did you just ask me to the dance because of Jaune?"

"No!" he all but shouted, drawing the attention of their friends and a few others. "No I totally like you! I was just being an idiot that night, and Jaune helped me realize that. Rather forcefully."

She sighed in relief and placed her hand on top of his. "That's... good to hear, honestly."

 _"What about Jaune?"_ whispered a part of her mind. _"Despite how you've treated him he's been there for you many times. Does he not deserve this?"_ She frowned and slightly tightened her grip on Neptune's hand as though she was trying to assert her feelings for the bluenette. She was conflicted about her feelings for Jaune. She wasn't sure if she really did have romantic feelings for him, or if they would fade after a few days. She just didn't _know._

As though he could read her thoughts Neptune said, "you know, Jaune's a pretty cool guy."

She nodded, "yes, I suppose he is."

"Do you..." the Haven student scratched the back of his head, "Do you... you know, like him?"

She didn't know.

But she did know that she liked Neptune, and she wasn't willing to risk her first real relationship on the possibility that she _might_ like someone else.

She placed a kiss on Neptune's cheek. "I like you," she said simply. It wasn't an actual answer to his question, but she hoped it would be enough for the blue haired boy. Judging by the pink tinge on his cheeks, it was.

He smiled and squeezed her hand. "Well I like you too." He pointed over to the table where their friends sat. "So, should we go join the others?"

Weiss smiled and stood up. "Yes, yes we should." The two made their way over to the others and sat down. Weiss smiled as she listened to the friendly chatter between all of her friends, but she wished that there could be one more person here. True Jaune had been annoying at times, and had been a bit too forward on more than one occasion, but he did care about her, had saved her life more than once, and sacrificed his own chances with her to make her happy. She owed Jaune a lot, and she was going to make sure she repaid his kindness.

* * *

"Excuse me, teams Juniper and Ruby?"

The two teams plus Sun and Neptune turned looked up from their conversations to see a short portly man in a doctor's coat and glasses standing before them. The nine of them leapt out of their seats and surrounded the doctor, and Ruby had to stop herself from grabbing the man by his coat and yanking him down to her level. Even team CRDL from their position on the other side of the room came over to listen, but didn't try to breach the circle the nine of them had made around the man.

"Is Jaune alright?" asked Pyrrha. Ruby couldn't stop herself from bouncing up and down from nerves as her heart raced. The doctor seemed pretty calm, even with a bunch of trained huntsmen surrounding him, so that had to be good sign, right?

"Mr. Arc is fine. It was very touch and go for awhile, but we managed to patch him up enough to ensure he'll live, and his aura is repairing the damage that we could not. Naturally we will be keeping a close eye on him, but we expect him to make a full recovery."

Ruby squealed with joy as the others let out sighs of relief and Pyrrha turned her head away to wipe the tears of joy out of her eyes. He was going to be okay!

"Can we see him?!" asked the little leader of RWBY.

"If you wish, but Mr. Arc is still unconscious. We suspect he'll be that way for the next couple of days at least as his body works to repair the damage done to it."

Before anyone could say anything else Ruby took off down the hall, her semblance allowing her to clear the distance in seconds. She barged through the doors to the ICU wing, glancing into the window of each door she passed as she looked for Jaune's room. "Not Jaune, Not Jaune, Not Jaune, Not Jaune, Not Ja- Wait yes Jaune!" She skidded to a halt and backpedaled to the door she had just passed and opened it, stepping into Jaune's room.

Just like the doctor said he was asleep. Jaune's chest rose and fell with easy breaths as he slept, the look on his face being one of peace. Ruby was relieved to see him so peaceful, but was less relieved to see how pale his face was, or all of the tubes and wires running from him to various machines. She didn't know what most of them were for, but she did know that one was a heartbeat monitor, two others were IV, one hooked up to a blood bag and the other hooked to a bag of clear liquid, water she guessed, and an oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose.

"The oxygen mask is more of a precaution than anything else." the doctor said as he and the others entered the room. "His lungs took significant damage, and while we managed to patch them up enough for his aura to heal the damage we don't want to take any chances until we're certain he can breathe on his own."

"How bad was it?" Pyrrha asked quietly as she stood next to Ruby, staring at her partner as he slept.

For a few moments the doctor was silent. Then he spoke. "Are you sure you want to know?"

Ruby and Pyrrha nodded, as did the others in the room.

"Well..." the doctor sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Mr. Arc's injuries were some of the worst I've ever seen, and I've worked ICU for twenty years. His rib cage was was a complete wreck. Not one of his ribs remained whole, and most of his internal organs were punctured by shards of bone from his own ribs, resulting in heavy organ trauma and internal bleeding. By the time we had begun surgery we were concerned that he would bleed out, but amazingly enough he did not. It should be noted that most of the damage to his organs was self inflicted. Had Mr. Arc not forced himself to keep moving his body would not have been so damaged. Honestly it's a miracle he lived, aura or not."

Ruby heard a pained whimper behind her, and turned to see that Weiss had her hands over her mouth and tears pouring down her face. "I-it's my fault," she sobbed.

Ruby reached an arm out to her partner, but pulled it back, not sure of what she should say or do. "Weiss..."

Neptune put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, his mouth opening and closing rapidly as he thought of something to say. "It's not your fault Weiss," he finally managed, "no one blames you!"

"I do," she sobbed into Neptune's chest.

Pyrrha, possibly the only person in the room who had any right to blame Weiss, went over to the heiress and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you do," she said softly, "but I know Jaune, and I know he doesn't blame you, and he wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"Miss Nikos is right Miss Schnee."

They all turned to the door to see Professor Ozpin standing there, cane in hand. He stepped into the room as Weiss wiped her eyes. "H-headmaster. I apologize for-"

He silenced her with a pat on the head as he walked past her. "Don't apologize for your tears Miss Schnee. You're only human, and it's good to cry from time to time." He stood next to Jaune's bed, his eyes never leaving the sleeping boy's face. "As I said, Miss Nikos is right. I won't pretend that I know Mr. Arc as well as the rest of you, but I do know that were he awake he wouldn't want you to blame yourself, nor would he want any of you to stand around here moping. He would want you all to get some rest and relaxation, and goodness knows you could all use it after today."

"But we can't leave Jaune here alone," protested Nora.

"And what good would it do Jaune or any of you to remain here? As the doctor said, Jaune is not expected to wake up for a couple of days at least, and even when he does he will be confined to this bed for a number of weeks. All of you should go back to Beacon and try to get some rest. If it's any consolation classes have been canceled early and everyone who partook in the battle has been made exempt from their missions, meaning your break has started early by a good few weeks. I promise that you'll all be informed when Mr. Arc awakens, including you and your team Mr. Winchester." Ozpin glanced at the all male team. "While I am glad to you're concerned about Mr. Arc's well being, I will admit that it is odd considering that he and your team were at odds for some time. Is there a particular reason for this sudden change of heart?"

Ruby and the others turned to team CRDL expectantly. The boys looked everywhere except at their fellow students and the headmaster. Eventually Cardin spoke up, "with all due respect headmaster, we'd rather wait until Jaune wakes up and we talk to him before saying anything."

Ozpin shrugged, "as you wish. Now as I've said I want all of you to return to Beacon and get some rest."

"Yes headmaster," they said in unison.

* * *

Weiss along with her teammates and the other three members of JNPR were gathered in team RWBY's dorm and watching the news on their hologram projector. Neptune and Sun had gotten word that their two teammates had arrived in the city and had gone to get them and help them settle into their teams dorm, while team CRDL had gone off to their own dorm, choosing to spend as little time as possible with teams RWBY and RWBY. Predictably all the news was playing was footage of what was being called the battle of the Breach. Most of the footage had been captured either by security cameras or news drones, and the sound had been cut out, presumably because no one would have been able to hear anything except the sounds of gun fire, blades cutting through skin, and the howls of Grimm. It wasn't like there was anything the general public needed to hear anyway.

She watched as the Jaune in the video knelt over her body as he applied CPR. She couldn't hear it, but she could tell from the way his lips were moving that he was sobbing her name over and over as he worked to revive her.

No, nothing at all that the general public needed to hear.

She sent guilty glances at Pyrrha and Ruby as the Jaune in the video pressed his lips against her and pushed air into the system of the Weiss in the video. While CPR was by no stretch of the imagination a _real_ kiss, and she was grateful to be alive, she couldn't deny that it made it a bit awkward for her when she was sitting between two girls who she knew had a crush on the one who had applied the CPR. She felt even more guilty when he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly after she was revived, rocking her back and forth in his arms as she watched his lips on the video utter those words.

 _"I-I thought you were dead. I couldn't- I_ can't _lose you."_

She knew she didn't have any real reason to feel guilty for hugging him back, after all he had just saved her life, but she did still feel a bit guilty.

They all watched as Jaune handed her off to team CRDL and turned to face the Dark Champion alone, his armor gleaming with inner light as his halberd burned with white fire. The two opponents charged towards each other, clashing in the middle of the square even as the Grimm that had been pouring out of the breach slowly began to turn around and flee back into it. Weiss hadn't seen it happen during the breach as her focus had been on Jaune, but watching the black furred monsters retreat back into their caves was nothing short of amazing. Grimm _never_ ran from a fight, but here they were, doing just that.

All because of Jaune. She supposed that the light and fire emanating from him had to be his semblance, but what kind of semblance was strong enough to make the Grimm run in fear?

They watched as he pinned the Dark Champion by driving his halberd through its leg and walked up the length of its body, grabbing its head by the horn as he roared at it. Again there was no audio, and his back was to the camera, but that didn't stop the words from echoing in her head.

His angel...

She watched as he burned the Dark Champion alive, his white fire spreading slowly across its body. She remembered the sight of Jaune standing over the monster, his fist buried in its eye socket as he scorched the beast, its howls of agony driving the remaining Grimm to flee in a panic. His lips had been pulled back in a furious snarl, blood stained teeth gleaming crimson in the glow of the fire as his eyes literally glowed blue with power and fury. Finally the beast died, Jaune pulled his halberd out of its leg as the glow and fire faded, and he smiled at them all just before collapsing. Weiss hit the power button on the remote on and turned off the projector as the medics rushed to his still form. They all knew what happened next anyway. Both of their teams sobbing over him as he and Weiss were loaded onto a bullhead and flown to the hospital even as Nathaniel and Talon were put on a second one and taken to the same hospital and a veterinary clinic respectively.

The room was silent for a few moments, then Ren spoke up. "I believe we should all get some sleep. We've had a long day. Jaune would want us to rest."

Weiss and the others nodded in agreement and the three members of JNPR said goodnight to the girls of RWBY before exiting the dorm room. From there the girls of RWBY silently got ready for bed, taking their showers and changing into their sleep wear. When the four of them were in bed and the lights were turned off Weiss rolled over and stared at the Angel's Rose as it glowed softly on the vanity. She reached a hand out and gently stroked the petals, imagining what might have been different had it been Jaune who had given her the rose.

As her eyes drifted closed she imagined him lying alone in his hospital bed, his body hooked up to various machines as his chest rose and fell evenly, uncaring men and women in white coats coming into his room every now and then to check up on him before leaving him all alone again.

 _"All your fault,"_ whispered a part of her mind.

* * *

Weiss stood outside the door to Jaune's room, trying to work up the courage to open the door and walk in. The others were back at Beacon, doing various and sundry activities to distract them and eat up the time until they got the message that Jaune was awake. She had told them that she was going 'out' and hadn't specified her destination, but she suspected they knew anyway.

The doctors had informed her that he was still unconscious, but honestly that worked in her favor. What was Weiss was about to do was not something that was easy for her, and having to talk to a conscious Jaune would have made it all the harder.

Weiss liked to think that since coming to Beacon she had gotten better at detecting her own flaws. She had come to realize that one of her greatest flaws was a severe reluctance to openly admit that she had been wrong about something, or in this case someone. Admitting it to herself was one thing, but admitting it to the person she had been wrong about was another entirely. She remembered how she had treated Ruby at the beginning of the year, thinking she was simply a foolish child who had gotten into the school on the merits of her combat abilities alone. While Ruby _was_ a child, and behaved foolishly on a number of occasions, that didn't mean she was a stupid or incompetent leader. It had taken a lot of will power on the heiress's part to swallow her pride and accept that her original impression of Ruby had been wrong, and her current situation reminded her very much of that time.

"You can do this," she muttered, "he's asleep, so it's not like he's going to actually hear anything you say." Before she could second guess herself Weiss opened the door and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Jaune was still completely asleep on the bed, just as the doctor had said he was. They had removed the oxygen mask from his face and a couple of the machines were no longer present, but most of the machines remained. The color had returned to his face, so he no longer looked like a corpse. Were it not for all of the machines he was hooked up to Weiss could have almost thought that he was sleeping peacefully. But he wasn't, and she couldn't think that. Despite what the others said Weiss knew it was her fault that he was like this. She should have moved faster when she realized the Dark Champion was coming for her. She should have fought harder, she should have done _something_ besides what she had done. It hurt her to see Jaune like this. He should have been back at Beacon with the others, smiling and cracking jokes, teasing Ruby about her height with Yang, getting into pancakes fights with Nora, being completely oblivious of Pyrrha and Ruby's feelings for him...

 _"Flirting with you,"_ whispered that part of her mind that was becoming _very_ annoying, but... perhaps it was right. She'd rather have him flirting with her every second of the day than laid up in a hospital bed, attached to emotionless machines and surrounded by uncaring white walls.

She sat down in the chair next to his bed. "Hey Jaune," she said uncertainly. "I'm uh... I'm glad to see you're looking better than you were yesterday. The doctors said that they're hoping you'll wake up in a couple of days, so that's good. I miss you- I mean _we_ , we miss you, you know. We're all waiting for you to wake up so things can go back to the way they were before." Could they? Could things ever go back to how they were before? She didn't know.

"I... I know you can't actually hear me right now," she said as she placed a hand on his bed, "but I need to say this to you, and I just don't think I could say it if you were awake." She took a deep breath in, and let it out. "I... was wrong about you. I thought you were just another one of the countless suitors I've had to deal with for so long, that you were just after my family's name and wealth, just like they all were." She gulped and forced herself to continue. No turning back now. "Ever since I turned thirteen my father had been setting me up with the sons of wealthy and powerful families in the hopes that I would fall for one of them so he could arrange a marriage for us when I turned old enough to marry. I couldn't stand any of them. Stuck up, full of themselves, and more interested in having the wealth of my family than having me. They only saw me as a stepping stone to that wealth, to that power." As she spoke her hand slowly traveled down the bed towards his own hand. "That's not even including the ones I had to deal with at formal functions when my father brought me to show me off to any bachelors present. It wasn't just young men my age either. While many were my age more than a few were the age of my father, or old enough to make my father look young in comparison, and his prime is _far_ behind him. I dealt with all of this unwanted attention, bearing it in silence as I thought the heiress to the Schnee dynasty should. As I drew closer and closer to my eighteenth birthday I still hadn't found someone I cared about, and I was afraid that my father would pick what he thought of as the most suitable candidate for me and arrange a wedding for me, regardless of what I thought about whoever he picked. Then I was given an out. Ever since I was young I had been trained to fight as a huntress for my own safety. Headmaster Ozpin approached me at a formal event and extended an offer to me: an offer to attend Beacon Academy. It was a chance to get away from my family, from my father, and most importantly from all of my suitors. I gladly accepted the offer." Her free hand reached up and touched the scar running over her left eye. "My father was not pleased, and set up a test that was designed for me to fail so he could force me to remain in Atlas. Despite this I passed his test, and he allowed me to attend Beacon. I hoped that while I was here I would not only get away from my family and all of the so called 'courtly' intrigue that surrounded it, but that I would also find someone there I would fall for, someone who would really care about me."

Her hand found his and rested on top of it. "You weren't the first person who tried to flirt with me here. I had more than one boy approach me on the airship ride to Beacon, and they all found themselves turned away, just like you were at initiation. However you were the most persistent of my suitors. Unlike the others you simply refused to accept defeat, constantly flirting with me and pestering me at any given chance. I still remember that time you tried to serenade me out on the common grounds with that stupid guitar of yours you know. You should really learn how to play before trying that again." She glanced at the door, as though expecting the others to come barging in at any second. If any of them saw this... oh god, if _Neptune_ saw this...

She sighed and took Jaune's larger hand in hers, properly holding it. The skin was rough,calloused, and warm, while hers was smooth, manicured, and cool. She thought it was a good comparison of their personalities. He was simple, straightforward, and seemed to almost exude a warm influence wherever he went, while in contrast she was elegant, graceful, and clear minded.

"I was so used to suitors trying to take advantage of me that I immediately waved off your own attempts as just that: attempts to take advantage of me. Albeit they were the most clumsy attempts I had ever had to deal with." She rubbed her thumb against his palm. "At least, they were at first. After you started training under Nathaniel you, dare I say it, _might_ have begun to become a bit... charming. Every day more of the Arc dunce disappeared was replaced with this new and confusing Jaune who said all of the right things to make me blush, but if anything that was your downfall. So many of my past suitors had been the 'charming' type, and this change in personality cemented you in my mind as just another pursuer of my family name."

She let out a shuddering breath. "Then came your battle against Neptune, and the dance. After you defeated Neptune I was certain you would claim your 'prize' of a kiss, but you didn't. Looking back on that moment I now understand why you did that, but at the time I just thought it was more proof that you didn't really care about me. Seeing that Cinder woman with her hands all over you after combat class while you just stood there and let her do whatever she wanted didn't help your case any, by the way."

"Then, there was the night I asked Neptune to the dance... Pyrrha told me about how you gave the rose to Neptune, and that you were the one who called my teammates to come get me. Neptune told me about how you... _convinced_ him to ask me to the dance, and about how you gave him dance lessons. I think he's a bit scared of you now honestly, though maybe that's not such a bad thing. It's nice to know that I have someone keeping him in check for me so I don't have to."

And now they had come to the part she was dreading the most. The Breach.

"I..." her grip on his hand tightened. She saw him forcing his broken body towards her even as the Dark Champion held her out to him, mocking him. Even as he was coughing up blood, even as every movement damaged his body even more and gave him unimaginable pain, he continued forward.

All for her.

"The breach, when that... _thing_ grabbed me, when you... when you... saved me, that was when I realized." She reached up with her free hand and brushed the tears out of her eyes. "That was when I realized I was wrong about you. That was when I realized that all the times you tried to flirt with me, all the times you pestered and bothered me, were real affection. That was when I realized that I had been so busy comparing you to my past suitors that I hadn't bothered to even entertain the possibility that you might actually care for me."

She gulped, thinking about what she was about to do. "I-I don't know how I feel about you Jaune. I know I now consider you someone I can trust with my life and a friend, and I _swear_ that when you wake up I am going to be the best possible friend that I can be for you. However I don't know if my feelings for you go... beyond just friendship. I do know that I like Neptune, and that he likes me, and I don't want to jeopardize that on the possibility that I _might_ have romantic feelings for you." She stood up, her hand still intertwined in his, and stared at his peaceful face. "But I do know one thing for certain." She leaned down until her face was just a couple inches from Jaune's and whispered, "I, Weiss Schnee, owe you one kiss. Both for defeating Neptune Vasilias in combat and winning the bet, and for saving my life." She cupped his cheek in her hand, "and Weiss Schnee always makes good on her debts."

She closed the last few inches between them, and the heiress's lips pressed against the squire's.

It was not much, just a chaste meeting of the lips, but had anyone been there to witness it they would have been unable to deny that it was a kiss. His lips were like fire against her cool ones, but the burn was good. After what she thought was about five seconds she broke off the kiss and stood straight, trying to regain her composure. Her heart pounded in her chest like a piston, her whole body shaking, her mind cloudy and incapable of fully comprehending what she had just done. She looked at Jaune, trying to ignore his lips (and the little voice in the back of her mind telling her to go for round two) and saw that he hadn't moved an inch, blissfully unaware of what had just transpired.

As her heartbeat finally slowed to more normal levels and the color left her face she gave Jaune's hand one final squeeze before releasing. "Goodbye Jaune," she said quietly, "wake up soon. For all of us."

She walked to the door and opened it. She glanced back at his peacefully sleeping form one last time before she stepped into the hallway, and softly closed the door behind her.

* * *

When he heard the door click shut Jaune's eyes flew open. "What the hell just happened?" he whispered.

Approximately five minutes before Weiss had entered his room Jaune had woken up with pain the likes of which he never though possible running all through his body, especially his torso. A quick look under the blanket and his oh so manly flower print hospital gown had shown him the patchwork of stitches that his torso had become. Apparently they'd had to operate on him. Processing this information Jaune had almost panicked, worried about his friends before he remembered everything that had happened at the Breach. Soothed by the knowledge that they were okay Jaune had relaxed and used his alone time to do one thing: think.

His battle against the Dark Champion, while ultimately successful, had taught him something.

He could never have a relationship with anyone so long as Salem lived.

The Dark Champion had been able to read into his thoughts and emotions, quickly finding out who to target first to hurt Jaune the most. It had gone after Weiss, his Snow Angel. It had almost _killed_ her.

That could never be allowed to happen again. Not to Weiss. Not to anyone. He would not let them die because of him.

The sound of the door opening had shocked him out of his thoughts and he had done the only thing he could think to do: he had pretended to still be asleep. He had been hoping that whoever it was would see that he was still supposedly unconscious and leave him be, allowing him time he desperately needed to think. He had not been expecting to hear Weiss's voice.

Still silently pretending to sleep Jaune had listened to Weiss talk, not daring to even breathe too hard lest he alert her to the fact that he could hear her. When she'd talked about how her father had put her out there as some sort of trophy to be won or something to be sold to the highest bidder and about how so many men had seen her as _just_ the Schnee heiress he'd had to wrestle down the urge to leap out of bed, assuming his injuries even allowed him to do that, and tell her that those men were trash, not worthy of her. Weiss was _not_ just an heiress, she was _not_ just a stepping stone to wealth and power. She was a beautiful, wonderful, intelligent girl who deserved someone who would treat her as such, not like some prize to be won and boasted about to your friends. Though it did explain why she had been so hostile towards all of his advances. If only he had known what she'd had to put up with, he would have changed tactics, tried to befriend her first, to show her that he _did_ care about the _real_ Weiss, not the heiress of some company.

Especially since she had opened his eyes on how just how annoying he had been on more than one occasion. He hadn't _meant_ to make her feel so uncomfortable, but looking back... he had probably crossed a line here and there. Especially with the guitar...

What was worrying however was that she blamed herself for his injuries. That was obvious to Jaune, but it could not be allowed to stay that way. Jaune would have done the same thing no matter who it had been that thing had grabbed, and he would have put himself through all the pain in the world to keep his friends safe. He would have to find a way to talk to her alone after he got out of the hospital, to make it clear that she wasn't at fault.

When he'd felt her lips on his he had been so utterly stunned that his body hadn't even thought to react, which as far as he was concerned was a gift from Vaya. Had he reacted at all things could have very well been a lot worse.

He sighed and touched his lips gently. His first kiss, and from the girl he had a massive crush on no less. He should have felt ecstatic, completely over the moon.

He didn't.

Had she told him just a couple of days ago that she _might_ like him and kissed him on the lips, as a thank you or as something else, he would have been on a whole new plane of existence, but now? Now it only worried him. Weiss, or anyone for that matter, wouldn't be safe with him as anything more than a friend. He wouldn't put her in that kind of danger. He had to make sure that she stayed with Neptune, and stayed happy with him. Hopefully her _possible_ feelings for him would go away in time.

As much as it hurt to think about it, he couldn't ever be with her, or anyone. At least not until Salem had been defeated.

The door opened, and a nurse stepped in. She stopped in surprise when she saw him awake. "You're... I'm sorry I didn't realize you were awake Mr. Arc. We thought it would be at least a couple more days before you woke up. I'll go inform the doctor."

She left before he could say anything, and less than a minute later was back with an older portly man in a white coat and glasses. "Mr. Arc!" he said happily. "So good to see you awake again. I'm sure your friends will be delighted to hear you're already up."

He smiled weakly, "actually, could you hold off for a few hours on telling them? I need some time to think."

The doctor nodded. "Of course, but now that you're awake we need to run some tests on you to be sure you're healing regularly. That you're awake is honestly rather shocking."

Jaune sighed and rested his head back on the pillow. "Go ahead," he said. He'd have time to work through the jumble of emotions that was his mind later.

* * *

 **Well that didn't take a month to type at all.**

 **Ahem, well I hope y'all did enjoy this chapter. I'll be the first to admit that there are moments where I think this chapter does fall flat.**

 **That being said, I hope I did the interactions between the different characters well here, especially Weiss's talk with 'sleeping' Jaune.**

 **I tried to make it clear in this chapter that Weiss wasn't the 'bad guy' for not liking Jaune, and that she did have legitimate reasons for turning him down. I figured one of the best ways to do this was to give back story on Weiss's past and what kind of guys she had to deal with growing up as the heiress to the world's largest Dust company.**

 **I would also like to make it clear here and now that _no_ Weiss is not suddenly in love with Jaune. Her opinion of him has undergone a one eighty because of what he's done for her, and she's feeling conflicted about Jaune, which is natural considering the fact that he risked his life for her. She's not sure if her romantic feelings for Jaune are authentic or if they'll fade in time, and isn't willing to risk her relationship with Neptune, who she _knows_ she likes, on a maybe. The kiss, for that matter, was not solely romantic either. Weiss knows Jaune has a crush on her, and figured it was a suitable thank you for everything he'd done for her. It definitely helped that Weiss thought Jaune was asleep, which resulted in Weiss being a bit more... brave, I suppose you could say, than she would have otherwise been.**

 **However she definitely wants to be his friend now, romantic feelings or not.**

 **On top of that, Jaune realizes just how dangerous it would be for her if he keeps pursuing her, or worse actually started a relationship with her, so he's definitely done trying to win her affection, or anyone else's for that matter. Ah poor boy. #foreveralone.**

 **If you liked this chapter then please follow and favorite if you haven't already! If you have a friend who likes RWBY or RWBY fanfiction then please let them know about this story if you think they'd like it! If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYYYEEEEEEEE!**


	15. Chapter 15

**HEEEELLOOOOOO! I'm glad to see some good reception for last chapter. At the Author's notes at the end of this chapter I have some (relatively) important news, so if you're interested please give the ANs at the end of the chapter a read.**

 **Also after watching episode eight of RWBY volume 4 (I won't spoil anything don't worry) I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the world building they had in this episode was strikingly similar to what I had written up for this story, barring some differences that aren't too great.**

 **With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

Jaune turned to the door as it opened. In walked the doctor, whose name Jaune had learned was Albus, with a clipboard in his hand. The doctor smiled at him, but the squire could tell that it was a nervous smile. Doctor Albus sat down in the chair next to his bed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Well Mr. Arc, we've compiled the results of all the tests, and it's... unexpected to say the least. Your body is healing at least twice as fast as what should be possible for a human being, even taking into account your large aura reserves. Originally I had thought that you would be confined to this bed for a number of months, but at your current rate you should be alright within a few weeks."

"Really?" Jaune asked. He'd been afraid that he'd be unable to fight in the Vytal tournament, but apparently he was healing faster than what should have been humanly possible. That should have surprised Jaune more than it did, but lately his whole life had been a string of events that didn't happen to normal people. "Well that's good. Any idea why I'm healing so quickly?"

"My best guess would be that it's something to do with your semblance. Though I don't know how a light that burns Grimm would be capable of advanced healing."

It took Jaune a few moments to understand what the doctor meant. Clearly he thought that the Lady's Light was Jaune's semblance, which made sense considering the fact that this man would know nothing about Vaya, along with everyone outside of Jaune himself, Nathaniel, Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood. "Well," Jaune said, "semblances are funny things. Never know what they can do." Then something else occurred to the squire. "Wait, how do you know about the La- I mean, my semblance?"

"Oh!" the doctor grabbed the remote to the projector in the room. "You just woke up a couple hours ago, so naturally you wouldn't know." He hit the power button and the holo screen came to life, showing a news channel. On the news channel footage of his battle against the Dark Champion was playing. "Understandably the Breach is all anyone has been talking about, and your battle against that one big Grimm has been one of the most recurring topics."

Jaune groaned as his head landed on his pillow. Just what he needed. More attention focused on him.

"Is everything alright Mr. Arc?"

"Yeah... just wondering if dying would've been a better route than having to deal with the press." He'd already had to deal with journalists and paparazzi trying to sneak into Beacon to get an exclusive interview with him. This would just make it worse. On top of that he might as well totally forget trying to go into Vale at any point. He'd probably get mobbed every time he left the safety of Beacon.

"Well if that's all then I see no reason for me to take up more of your time. Would you still like some time to yourself before I inform your friends that you're awake?"

The door to the room opened. "Actually good doctor, I would like a few moments with my student, if you don't mind." Headmaster Ozpin smiled and nodded to the both of them as he stepped into the room. The doctor quickly stood and left the room and shut the door behind himself, leaving the two of them alone.

Jaune struggled up into a sitting position. "Headmaster, I didn't realize-"

Ozpin cut him off by placing his hand on Jaune's shoulder and gently but firmly pushing the blonde back down on his back before sitting in the now vacant chair next to the bed. "I'd prefer if you didn't do anything to strain yourself Mr. Arc. Sir Nathaniel is currently strapped into his bed just a floor above us, and I do mean that he is literally strapped to the bed. He injured three orderlies rather severely trying to get to you, and it took Glynda using her aura manipulation to pin him to the bed while they strapped him down. She's stayed with him all night, assuring him that you'll be fine."

Jaune winced. He'd seen Nathaniel and Talon walk out of the ruined building, so he'd assumed they were okay, but if Nathaniel was in the hospital... "is he okay? Is Talon okay?"

"Physically? Yes, they're fine. Nathaniel suffered a concussion, and thus was forced to remain in the hospital overnight to ensure he hadn't suffered any brain damage. Talon was merely bruised a bit, along with his pride I imagine, but beyond that he's unharmed. Emotionally however they are far from fine. Both have been told you'll make a full recovery, but I can tell they blame themselves for not being able to kill the Dark Champion. As I already said Nathaniel had to be restrained, and Talon was circling the building like the bird of prey he shares some traits with until I managed to coax him down and inform him that you were going to be alright. After that he took off towards Beacon, or more specifically the Emerald Forest. According to Professor Port your Gryphon has been committing genocide on the Grimm of the forest. I fear that next year's initiates will find a drastically reduced Grimm population to deal with, assuming any are left."

Jaune had thought he couldn't feel any worse than he'd felt after Weiss had left. He'd just found he could in fact feel _much_ worse. "I'll call Talon back," he promised.

"Perhaps in a moment," replied Ozpin, "I would still like to talk to you privately before all of your friends know you're conscious." Ozpin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "What was the Dark Champion Jaune?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I... the night before the breach, I had a nightmare. The Dark Champion was in it. I went to Nathaniel and described it to him, but he didn't know what it was either. He thought my dream was a vision of the future, and we were going to go tell you, but before we could the breach happened. I think you know the rest from there."

The headmaster reached for a cup of coffee that wasn't there, then sighed as his empty hand lowered. "Indeed. The news of the Dark Champion has spread like wildfire throughout the four kingdoms and beyond. The councils are understandably distressed and scrambling for answers. I didn't expect you to know anything, as I already asked Nathaniel and he knew nothing about its origins, but I had to ask."

"How are the citizens in the other kingdoms handling all of this?" Jaune asked. He could only imagine the widespread panic making its way through the kingdoms.

"Well the news about the Dark Champion certainly caused some distress among the citizens, but it's not as bad as it could have been. The quick reaction from both huntsmen and the Atlas military kept civilian casualties to a minimum, thanks in no small part to the fact that team Ruby and Professor Oobleck were already on the scene, and your killing of the Dark Champion routed the the second wave of Grimm."

Ozpin smiled at the squire. "The people of Remnant are hailing you as a hero now. All of the world has seen you slay a monster that many huntsmen could not even harm. They have seen you stand against the worst of what the darkness has to throw at us, and prevail against it. All over the world people are gathered in religious buildings to pray for your safety and recovery. Support and supplies has come in from all over Remnant to help in repairing the damage done to the city, and condolences have come in for those who have lost loved ones. However _you_ are the focal point of much of it. Remnant waits anxiously to hear whether or not you survived."

Jaune shifted uncomfortably in his bed. "I never asked for this," he muttered, "I never wanted all of this attention on me. I just wanted to make it through Beacon and become a huntsman. I never wanted to be a 'savior', and I'm not. I... I'm just a normal guy. I'm just me."

"You know that's not true Jaune. Like it or not, the moment you accepted the burden of the Knight-Lord's mantle you became more than a man, or even a huntsman. It is your duty and destiny to revive the Gryphon Knights because it is a duty you chose. No one made you take it. You made the decision because you knew in your heart that it was your duty to do so. So far you have managed to avoid the press and going out into public, but you can no longer be so distant. Before you were a rising star, someone with the potential to rock the political foundations of the kingdoms, but that was all you were. You were a mystery, and people didn't know what quite to think of you."

"Now they see you as a hero and a guardian. They see you as someone capable of doing something we have never even dreamed could happen: defeating the Grimm once and for all. You slew the Dark Champion, and made the Grimm flee. Grimm have _never_ retreated before, but you made them run in terror yesterday. You have given people hope that we could someday live in a world free of Grimm."

"However hope is as much a curse as it is a blessing. People with hope can do nearly anything, but if they lose it then they become weak and vulnerable. They allow their despair to overwhelm them and swallow them whole. The greatest warriors are those that can live without hope, through either a surety of purpose or determination to see their task through to the end, whatever end that may be. The average man and woman are not capable of this however, and thus rely upon those who give them hope, like you. When you walk out of this hospital Jaune, you must be what they need you to be. You must be a beacon of hope that they can rally behind, that they can trust in. You must be open with them, and show them that they can trust in you. You must be willing to talk to the press and tell the people what is safe for them to know. We must keep some secrets within our little brotherhood, such as the true nature of the Grimm, Salem and Vaya, and the Maidens, but they must know about the Gryphon Knights of old, and how you will return them to power to become that which even the huntsmen could not be despite our best efforts: the blade that will be driven into the heart of darkness."

Jaune nodded. "I know, but... it's all so sudden. In a single day my entire life was turned completely upside down. From there things just haven't calmed down. I've tried to be the same old Jaune that I've always been, but... I can't. Not anymore. I'm not him anymore. I'm not a huntsman anymore. Regardless I'm still the leader of Juniper, and I wouldn't trade that for _anything_ , but I'm not _just_ the leader of Juniper anymore. I have a duty to rebuild the Order. I can't put that off anymore. I need to start looking for men to recruit."

"It's a bit early to start recruiting isn't it? Especially considering that you yourself haven't completed your own training," pointed out Ozpin.

"I'm not recruiting, not yet. I just want to start looking for potential knights so that I can start recruiting when I'm ready."

The headmaster smiled and stood up from his chair. "In that case I think I may know a few young men you should take a look at. They're... well they're a bit rough around the edges, but I think that they could do a lot of good with the right guidance."

"Who are they?" asked a curious Jaune.

"Oh you already know them. If I remember correctly you hit one of them with a jar of sap."

* * *

Pyrrha checked her scroll when it buzzed, and saw the message from the headmaster.

 _"Mr. Arc is awake."_

Without a word the three members of JNPR burst out of their room just as team RWBY did the same and sprinted down the hallway. The seven of them nearly slammed into a door as it was flung open, and team CRDL came charging out of their dorm. As the four boys hurried down the hallway Cardin turned to look at the two teams. "What are you standing there for?" he snapped, "come on!"

Pyrrha didn't know why the all male team suddenly so eager to be chummy with Jaune, but at the moment she couldn't have cared less. The three teams burst out of the school towards the Bullhead pads just as a winged shadow flew over them. Talon tossed his head back and shrieked as he flew towards the hospital. Evidently he too knew Jaune was awake.

"Azure memorial hospital!" shouted Cardin as the three teams piled into the cramped bullhead. "Get us there yesterday!"

* * *

If Jaune had been strong enough he would have leapt out of his bed as Talon's head smashed through the window of his hospital room and Nathaniel all but kicked in the door to the room. At precisely the same time both his mount and mentor roared at him, "NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

Behind the enraged form of Nathaniel Jaune could see Glynda standing there with her face in her hand.

Nathaniel stalked towards Jaune, who held his hands up defensively. "Hey, I'm still missing most of my ribs so if you're going to hit me can it _not_ be the- whoa!"

Nathaniel grabbed the edge of Jaune's bed and pushed him towards the window and waiting head of Talon. For a brief moment Jaune thought Talon was going to take a chunk out of him as the big Gryphon opened his beak, but instead he got the sloppiest kiss of his life as the war beast's sandpaper tongue soaked the entire right side of his face. "Whoa hey! Talon I'm fine," he pushed his mount's head away as he received three more licks. He turned to Nathaniel. "Could you please tell him that I'm-"

Nathaniel's arms wrapped around Jaune's neck and his face pressed against Jaune's cheek. The squire didn't realize his mentor was crying until he felt the tears on his cheek.

"Never again boy," he growled, " _never_ do something as reckless and stupid and boneheaded as that again. I _swear_ if you do I'll personally bend you over my knee like you're a little child and spank your ass, and that rule stands even when you're the Knight-Lord. I don't care if you're the Champion or the Lady herself. You ever pull a stunt like that again and I'll whip you into the next century."

 _"And that's if I don't get to you first,"_ warned Talon, _"which I will. I won't lose another Rider. I. Will. Not_."

"H-hey," Jaune extended an arm and wrapped it around Talon's neck. "I'm not going anywhere, alright? I'm going to be just fine. The doctor said I should be out in a few weeks."

 _"Damn straight you are..."_ the Gryphon muttered as he bumped his beak against Jaune's neck.

A hand rested on the knight's shoulder. "Nathaniel?" Glynda ran her hand through the Knight's short brown hair comfortingly. "The others are here."

Jaune looked past Nathaniel to see his teammates, the girls of RWBY, and even the boys of CRDL behind them. He smiled. "Hey guys. Sorry I overslept."

The eleven huntsmen in training piled into a room that was _not_ designed to hold eleven people as Nathaniel stood straight and stepped back from Jaune, trying to hide the fact that he was wiping his eyes. "Yes, well... you and I are going to be having a talk at some point. For now however I'll let you be with your friends." Nathaniel turned on his heel and marched out of the room, Glynda close behind him.

* * *

When he heard Glynda shut the door behind them Nathaniel leaned against the wall and let his head fall into his hands. Deep shuddering breaths rocked his body so hard his armor rattled as he allowed the tears he had been trying (and failing) to hold in roll down his cheeks. "By the Lady," he sobbed, "I'm a horrible mentor."

Slender arms wrapped around his neck as Glynda pulled his head down to kiss him on the cheek. While Glynda was not a small woman, Nathaniel was still several inches taller than her. "You know that's not true," she crooned as she ran her hands through his hair, something she had evidently learned calmed him down in the short amount of time they'd been together. "It's only because of your teachings and the armor you gave him that Jaune not only survived, but was able to kill that thing."

That changed _nothing._ He should have been able to kill that beast. He had been trained as a Gryphon Knight for as long as he could remember. He was a remnant of the mightiest army to ever exist and bare arms for the Lady Vaya. Killing a Grimm, even an intelligent one, should have been easy for him. He shouldn't have been defeated in just two strikes. "I should have been able to kill it," he gasped between sobs, "Jaune should never had needed to fight it in the first place. I shouldn't have been so weak."

"Don't you _dare._ " Glynda grabbed his face and pulled the knight into a deep and passionate kiss. Nathaniel instinctively melted into it and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in deeper as he closed his eyes and took in her heavenly scent of Jasmine tea and cinnamon. She broke off the kiss and stared deeply into his eyes. He loved the color of her eyes. The deep emerald color never failed to draw him in and captivate him utterly. "Don't you dare ever call yourself weak again," she scolded as though he were a schoolboy and not a towering mountain of muscle and steel plate. "You are strong, physically, mentally, and in spirit. You have a good and caring heart, despite how you try to hide it behind your armor and gruff attitude." She pecked him on the lips. "Now I never want to hear you say that about yourself again, understand?"

He smiled. "Yes ma'am." Maybe it was just simple puppy love, but he adored Glynda so much. He wouldn't say that out loud to her though, not yet. He didn't want to drive her away by taking things too fast. He kissed the top of her head. "Thank you, my lady."

The deputy Headmistress rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "My lady? If you keep that up you'll start making me feel old."

"So what? Your age does not determine your beauty. You're beautiful to me no matter what."

He couldn't help but let out a little whoop of triumph in his head as Glynda's cheeks darkened with color. He rarely managed to make her blush, but he loved it when he did. The beautiful woman turned around in his arms and leaned against him, her head resting under his chin as she took his hands in hers and wrapped them around her own waist. The both of them stared at the door to Jaune's room. They could hear raised voices, but it was the sound of happiness, not arguing.

"He's like a son to me," the knight said.

"I know," Glynda replied with a smile.

* * *

It had taken the combined might of Nora and Yang to unwrap Pyrrha's arms from around Jaune's neck, and the second they had Ruby had swooped in and wrapped her own arms around his neck. After another moment of wrestling with an inconsolably sobbing crimsonette Zwei, who had accompanied them from Beacon, leapt up into Jaune's lap and curled up on his legs.

"Really guys I'm fine," he assured them for what had to be the thousandth time. Honestly they were almost as bad as Talon, and that was saying something. Every time Jaune happened to scoot out of licking range the Gryphon growled and grabbed the hem of his flower pattern hospital gown (he really needed to get a less girly one, and some pants for that matter...) to pull the boy back in and lap at his face. Jaune's hair on the right side of his face was sticking straight up at this point, despite his attempts to push it back down. "The doctor said I'll be out of here in a few weeks, a little over a month to be exact." He grinned at his teammates. "I'll be able to compete in the Vytal festival tournament with you guys."

"A-are you sure?" sniffled Pyrrha as she wiped her eyes. "There's nothing we can get you?"

"Really, I'm- well, actually..." He looked Blake's way. "I don't guess you have any books I could borrow? I'm going to need something to do while I'm stuck here, and with my scroll destroyed," he pointed at the ruined device laying on the table next to his bed, "I would literally kill for a few books right now."

Blake gave him one of her rare smiles and nodded. "I've got a few I think you'll like."

Yang leaned in close to her partner and stage whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, "he means _besides_ your porn kitty cat."

Blake's cheeks flared with color. "It's not porn!" she hissed at her partner in a very cat like manner.

The others in the room chuckled at the normally reserved girl's reaction. Well, almost everyone. Team CRDL was stood against the far wall, looking very uncomfortable.

Jaune didn't know what was up with them. After the Forever Fall incident the all male team hadn't so much as spoken to him, but during the Breach Cardin had not only looked to him for leadership when the sirens had first gone off, but had followed his orders during the battle and protected Weiss. A part of the squire suspected they were just trying to get in good with him now that he was famous, but he didn't think so. Team CRDL, especially it's leader, weren't the kind to put their values, crooked as they might be, aside just to improve their standing or image. They were rude, crass, racist, and bullies, but they were stubborn too. They wouldn't change just because Jaune was a famous figure now. No, there was something else going on with them.

However their presence at his bedside was more or less an olive branch from them as far as Jaune was concerned, and he was content to take it.

"It's not a private party you know," Jaune said to them with a smile. "You can stop trying to sink into the wall over there and join us."

The four boys started as the squire addressed them. Cardin looked up and briefly met Jaune's eyes, but looked away after a couple seconds. "We... we need to talk to you, Nathaniel, and Talon in private," he muttered, "but it can wait until you and your friends are done."

Something told Jaune that it couldn't wait. Some... urging at the back of his mind told him that whatever the four of them needed to tell him, they needed to do it _now._

He turned his gaze back to his friends and teammates. "Guys, could you step outside for a little bit, and send Nathaniel in? I promise I'll try to make this as quick as possible."

Pyrrha frowned and looked at CRDL, then at Jaune. "Are you sure?"

He smiled and patted her arm. "I'm sure."

Reluctantly the others left. It didn't escape Jaune's notice that the last to exit was Weiss, who glanced back at him in worry before shutting the door behind her. Just like how she had only a few hours before.

Nathaniel entered and shut the door behind himself, then locked it. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Jaune tilted his head towards team CRDL. "They said they have something to tell us."

Nathaniel walked over to Jaune's beside and waved his hands at the four boys. "Out with it then."

 _"This should be interesting,"_ mused Talon.

* * *

To say that Cardin Winchester was nervous would have been an uncomprehendingly vast understatement. He was _terrified._ Terrified of what he was about to do, terrified that what he was about to say would, if it was all true, shake the very foundation of everything he had ever thought he believed, and terrified that he and his team may somehow now have a role to play in this weird new world of Gryphons and talking intelligent Grimm.

The four boys stepped to the center of the room and stood there, shuffling their feet nervously. Cardin looked up at Jaune for a brief second, then looked back down. Even when he was hospitalized and pale the squire still somehow managed to radiate an aura of leadership and calm. He still managed to project a lordly presence around himself. Cardin had to resist the urge to drop to one knee before the blonde hero.

The ginger leader sighed and shook his head. There was no point in dragging this out any longer. What he had to say had to be said now. He looked up and met Jaune's eyes. This time he forced himself to keep his gaze firmly upon Jaune's own.

"Ever since you returned to Beacon with Talon and Nathaniel the four of us have been having the same dream every night."

"The first time we weren't sure what to think of it, but weren't too concerned. After the second and third night we... we started to get scared. We talked about going to Ozpin, but we were afraid he might think we had gone crazy and kick us out. After a week of having the same dream every night we started to think we _were_ going crazy. It got harder and harder to sleep, which affected us during the day too."

"Oh, so _that's_ your excuse for hitting me in the match against Nikos," muttered Dove just loudly enough for his leader to hear.

Cardin sighed. God only knew how many times they had had _that_ discussion. "After about a month of this we decided that there was only one thing we could do. We had to come and talk to you, Jaune."

"Why me?" asked Jaune.

Cardin gulped. "Because our dream is about you. It's..."

"The dream always starts the same. A massive black shadow, larger than anything I could compare it to, sweeps over the world. People scream and die as the shadow sweeps over them, hundreds of thousands dying in seconds. The only ones who survive the initial onslaught are those who find somewhere to hide or manage to get behind the walls of the cities and larger towns, but eventually even the towns are swept under, until only the cities remain. One of the cities, glowing with green light, is assaulted the most heavily by the shadow, and its walls begin to buckle and crumble, then eventually collapse. We see people screaming and clinging to one another in fear as the shadow begins to creep over the destroyed wall and into the city. Just before the shadow reaches them, we here it."

"Horns."

"The deep and resonant sounds of horns blowing cuts through the air as the shadow shudders and withdraws from the city. In the distance we see it: a light. It's dim, but as it grows closer it grows stronger, and eventually can make out other lesser lights with it, but the greatest light burns brighter than the sun. Eventually we can make a figure out in the light. It's you. The light is coming off of you, and the lesser lights radiate from other men who follow you willingly to war against the shadow. At your side are four men, their lights not as strong as yours, but still strong. We... we think that's us."

"You, us, and everyone following you are all mounted upon Gryphons, covered from head to toe in plate and chain, and carrying large two handed weapons. Broad bladed greatswords, great axes with heads capable of hacking through the toughest armor, two handed maces and warhammers capable of pulverizing bone with a single swing, long reaching and piercing halberds and glaives, and other weapons. You charge towards the darkness, the rest of us following behind you as you lead your knights into battle against the shadow. Just before both sides make contact with each other everything goes dark, and we hear a woman say, 'stand with your Knight-Lord, or all shall fall.'"

He couldn't stand anymore. Cardin dropped down to one knee, and his teammates followed suit.

"We pledge ourselves to your service, Knight-Lord Arc."

* * *

If Jaune had been told one week ago that he would take on a giant intelligent Grimm all on his own, chances are he would have believed whoever was telling him that. If he had been told that team CRDL would kneel before him and pledge their lives to him, then Jaune would have thought that whoever was telling him this was mentally unhinged, and needed to be locked in a padded room for their own safety.

And yet, here they were on their knees before him after telling him about a recurring dream they'd been having about him. Damn if that didn't sound weird out of context.

Honestly it still sounded pretty weird in context.

"Well..." Jaune struggled to find the right words. "That's certainly... a thing."

Cardin looked up at him, desperation in his eyes. "We _know_ it sounds insane. Trust me we do. That's why he haven't told you until now. We weren't sure if we were going crazy, but after seeing a Grimm that walks upright like a man and _talks_ ," the ginger boy laughed nervously, "the whole world seems to be going crazy, so why not us too?"

Jaune couldn't help but smile. Team CRDL's nervousness reminded him of himself when he'd first been introduced to his birthright. They were far out of their element. They didn't understand what was going on, or why they had been plagued with this dream, but Jaune did. The four former bullies had a role to play in the fate of Remnant as his own loyal warriors. Evidently the Lady loved irony.

Suddenly Jaune flinched and clutched his head as images began to fly through his head at an impossible pace, yet he retained perfect memory of each and every one of them.

A lone mountain, tall and mighty.

Within lay an underground fortress, carved into the mountain and hidden from the world.

Halls whose walls were carved with images of Gryphon Knights battling Grimm and evil men. These halls twisted and wound their way around, but led to two massive metal doors, untouched by the ravages of time.

And behind those doors...

Deep blue eyes flew open as Nathaniel shook his shoulder frantically and shouted his name as the boys of CRDL and Talon watched on with fear etched on their faces. He placed a hand on Nathaniel's own. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" the knight asked frantically. "We should bring the doctor in and have him look at you, just in case."

"There's no need," Jaune assured his mentor. "I was just granted a vision."

"A vision?" The Gryphon Knight's eyes widened as the implications of Jaune's words hit him. "You... you mean from... _her_?"

Jaune smiled and nodded as Nathaniel all but collapsed into the chair, eagerness etched onto his face. "What was it?" he asked excitedly, "what did you see?"

"Wait wait wait," said a severely confused Cardin. "What- who's her? Is it the same woman we've been hearing in our dream?"

Jaune nodded. "Exactly the same." He glanced at Nathaniel, "I'll explain my vision soon, I promise, but first they need to learn the truth." He turned his head to the four thoroughly confused boys of team CRDL.

"Tell me boys." The Champion smiled. "What do you know of gods?"

* * *

 **Okay be honest. Who saw the whole, "Team CRDL pledges themselves to Jaune's service" thing coming?**

 **I would like to apologize _profusely_ for the length of time it took for this chapter to come out, and if it falls flat in some areas. As many of you may know I'm currently working on two other stories, so I try to cycle through them, writing a chapter for each in turn. I also got a job rather recently, so I haven't been able to dedicate as much time to this as I have in the past. On top of all that the internet service at where I'm currently staying is painfully slow at the best of times, and is often prone to dropping connection entirely. I write and save all of my chapters onto this sight, so if I try to do that while the internet decided to go off on me... the less said about that the better. The only time I really have fast and actually reliable internet is when I go to my mother's on the weekends, which is when I get ninety five percent of my writing done. On top of all _that_ I recently got into playing Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, so assembling and painting takes up more of my time, and I usually wind up dedicating a good chunk of my Sundays to playing AOS at my local game shop.**

 **This chapter was actually supposed to be longer, but I decided to cut it in half so I could get this out for you sooner rather than later. I promise I'll do my damndest to ensure that the next chapter of this story comes out sooner than this one did.**

 **With all that being said, I suppose it's time to move onto that relatively important news I mentioned in the ANs at the beginning of the chapter.**

 **I have recently made a (place that fan fiction apparently doesn't like) account in an attempt to make a little bit of money off of my writing. Now before I say anything else I want to make it _extremely_ clear that I will never try to coerce money out of you guys by pulling asshole moves, such as refusing to release chapters of stories unless I get X amount of money donated. I will _never_ do that to you guys (and if we're being honest I don't think it would work anyway XD) because I love you guys, and I love writing. All this is is just an attempt from me to make a extra buck here or there from doing something I love, so if for whatever reason you decide you want to drop a dollar my way I'll leave a link to my page at the bottom of the ANs from this point forward on all of my stories. I don't expect much money honestly (if any) so don't think I'll get upset if I get few to no donations or patrons. I assure you that won't happen.**

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	16. Chapter 16

**A day may come with this story takes less than a month to update, BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY!**

 **Seriously though I am so sorry this keeps taking so long. Life is just currently plotting against me putting out chapters of this story.**

 **As an apology for the last chapter of this story taking so long to come out I decided to go ahead and work on this chapter instead of the next chapter of "Blood and Fangs." That being said "Blood and Fangs will also recieve two chapters in a row, then I'll return to my normal schedule of updating one after another. I'm going to try and get those two chapters out as quickly as possible without compromising the quality of them.**

 **I'm glad to see people were happy to see this story get updated. We surpassed two hundred favorites with the last chapter, and are closing in on surpassing three hundred follows. Maybe we can get over three hundred with this chapter? (hint hint.)**

 **With all that out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

"What do you think they're talking about?" asked Nora for the fifth time in just as many minutes.

"I dunno," replied Yang, "I mean, what could team Cardinal _possibly_ have to say to Jaune that would take them," she checked her scroll, "over thirty minutes? I mean it's not like they were exactly nice to him, but if they're trying to apologize they must be laying it on _really_ thick."

"Whatever it is we just have to be patient," advised Pyrrha, "Jaune asked us to wait until they're done, and we will." It seemed that the champion was trying to stick to her decision to trust her partner, but even Weiss could tell that she wanted nothing more than to kick in the door to his room. If the heiress was being honest with herself she felt the same way.

"I think it may be something to do with this Knight-Lord business," said Ren. "He's only ever like this when it's something involving matters of the Order."

"But what would Team Cardinal have to do with any of that?" asked Blake, whose ears twitched in aggravation behind her bow. It was no secret that she disliked the all male team more than anyone else in either of their teams, which was understandable considering her being a Faunus.

"Maybe they're trying to be friends with Jaune now that he's famous?" suggested Ruby.

Weiss shook her head. "If it was anyone else I would agree, but team Cardinal is nothing if not obstinate. It would take a more than fame to change how they view Jaune. A _lot_ more." It was a subject she knew all too well. Many people had tried to grow close to her due only to her family. There had been a few people however who had stubbornly refused to get along with her for the same reasons. Those people, as aggravating as they had been, at least had her respect. They weren't willing to play the sycophant for a chance at improving their lot in life. Team CRDL was much the same way.

"People _can_ change," Ren pointed out. "It's entirely possible that this is an attempt by team Cardinal... to... Weiss, do you know that woman?"

The heiress turned to follow Ren's gaze. A woman was striding towards them quickly, or rather, towards her. "Winter? _Winter_!"

Weiss rushed to her sister, who picked up her own pace until she was all but running down the hallway. The two sisters embraced each other tightly before the elder broke it off and grabbed Weiss's chin, tilting her head side to side. "Are you alright? I heard about the attack and that you were injured. Where were you hurt?"

Weiss smiled and pulled her chin free of her sister's grasp. "I'm fine. My injuries were minor and have already healed."

Winter smiled and sighed with relief. "That's good."

 _THWACK!_

Winter's hand smacked Weiss upside the head. "Foolish girl!" she shouted, "why didn't you tell me you were fine?! Why did you make me worry about you on the whole journey over here?! You should have called me as soon as possible!"

Weiss withered under her sister's words. "I-I'm sorry," she said as she stared at the ground, her arms clasped behind her back. "My scroll was destroyed during the battle, but I should have found some way to let you know I was alright."

Winter sighed and hugged her little sister again. Weiss smiled and wrapped her own arms around her elder sister's back. She was the closest thing to a real mother the young heiress had ever had. She wouldn't trade that for anything.

"I saw the battle live on my ship as I flew back from an assignment in Mistral," her sister murmured. "When that... _thing_ grabbed you I was terrified I was going to lose you. I owe this Jaune Arc boy a great deal for saving you, and killing it. I assume he's your boyfriend?"

Weiss leapt back out of her sister's arms. "N-no! He and I are friends! _just_ friends." She could feel her face turning crimson. Her lips felt warm, as though they were remembering what his felt against them.

Winter smirked as though she was in on some big secret, which she _wasn't_ because there was no secret to be in on. "Of course you are," she said in such a way that suggested she didn't believe they were just friends for even a moment. "Well regardless, I owe him my thanks. Which room is his?"

Weiss pointed down the hall at Jaune's room. "He's talking with some... other people at the moment. Until they're done, perhaps you would like to meet my team?"

Winter looked at the others down the hall. "I assume the short one, blonde one, and black haired one are your teammates?" Weiss nodded her confirmation. "Very well," Winter agreed, "but I should warn you I wasn't the only one to come and see you."

The heiress groaned and closed her eyes. "Please tell me you don't mean-"

"Weiss!"

She sighed in resignation and opened her eyes as a man in a white suit with hair of the same color walked down the hall towards her.

"Hello, father."

She had hoped that he would remain in Atlas, but deep down she'd known he would come to check on his precious heiress. That she was also his daughter _might_ have factored in at some point along the road.

"Are you alright?" he asked, the put on concern in his voice making her sick to her stomach. He could tell that she was perfectly fine just by looking at her, but he had to put on the appearance of being worried since he was in public. "I heard about that _terrible_ monster attacking you and I had to come make sure my princess was okay!"

 _"After making sure the breach didn't interrupt the trade flow of dust I'm sure."_

"I'm fine, as you can clearly see," she said flatly.

"Of course of course," he smiled at her in a way that to anyone else would have seemed like relief that his child was okay, and it _was_ relief, but Weiss knew her father well enough to know that it was only because the precious little heir to the family business was unharmed. Even if something had happened to her there was no doubt in Weiss's mind that Jacques would waste no time in transferring the title of heir to her spoiled little brother Whitley.

"I saw the recordings of the battle that took place," he laughed, "I mean, who hasn't after all? I would like to extend my gratitude to the young man who saved your life on behalf of the Schnee family. Where would this young Jaune Arc be?"

"He's busy," she snapped, her composure cracking at the mention of Jaune's name. She wouldn't let her father sink his talons into him too. "We're all currently waiting for him to wrap up some important business with his mentor and a few others. I expect he may be busy for some time." She crossed her arms. "I know you're such a _busy_ man. I would hate to keep you from your work. You should probably just head back to Atlas to oversee the company."

Before he could respond the door to Jaune's room burst open. Nathaniel and team CRDL strode out.

"I'll talk with Ozpin and get the supplies and transportation we'll need for our journey. The four of you return to your dorm and grab anything you need, and be sure you take care of that task Jaune set for you. You'll have two hours. After that you are to meet me at the Bullhead pads. Understood?"

"Yes sir," the four boys muttered. They seemed unusually subdued.

"Nathaniel?" Glynda hurried after the knight and placed her hand on his shoulder. "What's going on?"

He turned and smiled as the two walked away, CRDL behind them. "I'll explain in detail when we get to Beacon, but the these four and I are going on a journey."

As they walked away Weiss turned to the others in confusion, but they just shrugged.

"Excellent," crowed Jacques, "it seems Mr. Arc is no longer occupied." He strode into the room as Weiss and Winter shared a look, then followed him in with the others.

* * *

"Uh... can I help you?" Jaune asked as a strange man in a white suite walked into his room like he owned the place.

The man smiled and held out his hand as his friends (and some woman with white hair like Weiss) filtered in after him. "Mr. Arc," the man said, "it's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I'm sure you already know who I am."

Jaune blinked, looked him up and down, then shrugged. "Can't say I do. Now if you just wanted to say hello could please leave? I've only just woken up and would like to talk to my friends."

The weird man in white blanched as everyone else stared at him in astonishment. "J-Jaune," Pyrrha said, "this is... this is Jacques Schnee. Head of the SDC and Weiss's dad."

Confusion was replaced with realization, and then anger. _"This is the man responsible for throwing so many men at Weiss?"_

Oh they were going to get along _wonderfully._

Jaune plastered on a smile and pushed himself into a sitting position. "Mr. Schnee, what a pleasure. I apologize for not recognizing you." This was going to hurt, and was probably a bad idea, but something about lying in a bed and showing weakness before a man like Jacques gnawed at Jaune in a way that couldn't be ignored.

"Jaune, what are you... Jaune sit down!" Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss rushed over as he turned and placed his feet on the floor, then pushed himself to his feet. He grunted in pain and clutched his stomach, gripping the heart monitor and leaning against it.

"I'm fine," he growled as he waved off the three girls. He hoped the flower print hospital gown didn't make him look like as much of a fool as he thought it did. His teeth gritted in pain, he took Mr. Schnee's still outstretched hand. "Jaune Arc, pleasure to meet you." With more than a bit of malicious intent the Champion clamped down on Jacques's hand with enough force to feel the bones within shift. The head of the SDC yelped and tried to wrench his hand free, but Jaune held on for a couple more seconds than was perhaps necessary before releasing the man with a laugh. "Sorry! I guess I've still got more of my strength left in me than I thought." _"That... was satisfying."_

Jacques rubbed his hand. "Think nothing of it," he said, grimacing in pain as Jaune allowed himself to be guided back into bed by Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby. "When I heard about the attack on Vale and how my precious daughter was targeted by that monstrous Grimm I immediately made my way to Vale, but I also came to give my thanks to you for protecting her. Rest assured your medicals bills will be paid for out of my own personal funds. Consider it my way of returning the favor." The CEO smiled a way that Jaune was sure was meant to be friendly and warm, but reminded him of a Beowulf. "I would also like to extend a formal invitation for you to join myself, my son, and my daughters for some fine dining after you've recovered."

Jaune smiled. "That sounds excellent. We'll be there."

Jacques blinked. "Ah... we?"

The Champion nodded enthusiastically. "Well my team and Weiss's too of course. My team is pretty much the sole reason I'm still at Beacon, and it's only natural that you would want to meet your daughter's teammates. After all, what _good_ father wouldn't?"

Jaune had backed the older man into a corner now, and he could tell Jacques knew it. The head of the SDC laughed nervously. "Well I... I see no reason why they can't come too."

"Oh!" Jaune slammed his fist into his palm as though he'd just remembered something. "And my mentor Nathaniel, along with the boys of team Cardinal."

Weiss's father was actually sweating. "So many people," he chuckled, but his eyes were flying around the room as though he was looking for a way out. "Is- is it really necessary for them to come too?"

"Well of course it is," Jaune said with a crocodile smile. "Nathaniel is the one grooming me to take my place as Knight-Lord after all, and team Cardinal just now pledged their loyalty to me, making them the first four new members of my Order. As such I expect them to take places of command in the future. It's only natural that they should accompany me." He raised an eyebrow. "Do you not agree, Mr. Schnee?" There was a challenge in those words, and as Jaune's gaze met the elder's Schnee's he silently dared him to accept that challenge.

Jacques broke eye contact after only a few seconds. "I see no reason why not," he said as he tugged on his collar. "Well, if that is all then I _really_ must be going. Being the head of the wealthiest company on Remnant is nothing if not busy, but profitable." With a nervous chuckle he made a hasty exit out of the room, not even stopping to talk to his daughter.

After he left the members of JNPR, RWBY, and that white haired woman turned to Jaune in shock, their mouths hanging open. The Champion smiled and clapped his hands together. "So! How was your mission in Mountain Glenn girls?"

* * *

Cardin and his teammates followed Nathaniel out of the Bullhead. "Remember, you've got two hours to grab anything you need, and to find Velvet."

The boys voiced their assent as the knight walked away. Sky sighed and scratched his head. "Cardin, do we _really_ have to go through with this? What if we just tell them we talked to her?"

"And what if they ask her?" CRDL's leader snapped at him. "No, we've got to do it, no matter what we think about it." He turned to his three teammates, his arms crossed over his chest. Cardin couldn't help but feel a swelling of pride in his chest when he looked at them. They weren't the strongest first year team, not when you had to compare yourself to RWBY and JNPR, both of which consisted of absolute monsters, but they were his team, _his_ boys. He had know them for about as long as he could remember. The four of them were brothers, even if they weren't technically related. "This is our second chance," he said softly to them, "this is our chance to make something more out of ourselves."

This was their chance to make their father proud.

An hour later the boys had packed the essentials and were heading towards the school docks. It was, perhaps unsurprisingly, on route to the landing pads that the four of them came across Velvet. The Faunus girl was in the courtyard with her camera, snapping pictures of other students as they went about their business.

Cardin gulped and glanced back at the others. "Just let me do the talking, okay? The sooner we can get this over with, the better." The three boys nodded their assent and stepped back, allowing their leader to approach her on his own.

He stepped forward until he was just a few feet behind her. He cleared his throat. "Velvet."

The faunus jumped and turned around. Confusion was replaced with fear as she saw who it was.

Cardin couldn't help but feel some guilt at that. He hadn't bothered her or anyone else at the school since Jaune had set him straight at Forever Fall, but to see that she was still afraid of him after so long... what would his father think?

"Look," he said quickly, "I'm just here to talk, okay?" He held his hands up, away from his weapon, as a sign of peace.

She stared at him warily for a moment, then nodded. The other students within hearing of the two turned to listen in on what Cardin had to say.

"My team and I... apologize for the way we've treated you in the past. you won't have to worry about us bothering you, or any faunus, ever again."

The courtyard was completely silent as the other students watched and waited for Velvet's response.

"I..." she sighed. "I don't believe you. At least, I don't believe you're actually sorry. I think you're being honest when you say you'll leave me alone, but I don't think you truly regret the things you've done to me and the other faunus students in the past."

The ginger winced under her words. They hurt, especially since they were true.

"But... I'm going to forgive you anyway."

Cardin's mouth dropped open, as did the mouths of his teammates. "You... why?"

Velvet smiled sadly at him. "Because three years before I came to Beacon, my mother and I were able to avoid living on the streets and fishing in garbage cans for food thanks to the generosity of the Winchester Foundation."

With that, she turned and walked away. "Goodbye, Cardin."

An hour later team CRDL was sitting at the bullhead docks, their packs beside them, when Nathaniel showed up. His own pack was slung across his back, a brown traveling cloak fastened around his neck. His helmet was tucked under one arm and his halberd was gripped in the others. "I take it you boys have talked to Velvet?"

Cardin nodded. "Yes sir," he mumbled. The mention of his father's old charity had shaken him up. It had shaken all of them up.

If Nathaniel noticed their mood he didn't comment on it. "Good, then assuming the four of you have everything you need in those packs, we're ready to go. Ozpin has secured a Bullhead for us, and thanks to Jaune we know the coordinates of our destination. Let's get moving."

The four pushed themselves to their feet and slung their packs across their backs. After checking to ensure his weapon was securely attached to his belt, the leader of CRDL nodded to Nathaniel. "We're ready to... uh, sir? Is... that lipstick on your cheek?"

Nathaniel yanked his helmet down over his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said hastily, "let's go."

The five of them boarded the bullhead, and it lifted off into the sky. Cardin watched as the city of Vale passed below them. Their flight path took them directly over the courtyard where the battle of the breach had taken place. Even as high up as he was Cardin could still see the hole in the ground, and the massive scorch mark from when Jaune had cooked that Dark Champion thing alive.

The thought of Jaune and the Dark Champion made Cardin think back to the Champions explanation about Salem, Vaya, and the truth of mankind and all other life.

They were a part of something now. Something larger than the four of them, larger and more important than anything that had happened since... ever. He didn't need to ask his teammates to know that they were thinking the same thing. The knowledge that gods existed and were battling for the fate of Remnant was terrifying, but... now that he knew, Cardin wanted to be a part of it. He wouldn't sit on the sidelines and let others fight this battle for him. He would give every molecule of himself to this fight, both to atone for his actions in the past...

and to become the kind of man his parents would have been proud of.

* * *

 **Yet another chapter that took far too long and was far too short. I do apologize for how long this took. As I've said before life seems to be conspiring against my ability to write.**

 **That aside we see more of team CRDL in this chapter. As I'm sure many of you can tell they will become an integral part of this story, and thus will be receiving a good chunk of character development in this next arc, which I'm dubbing the "Secret of the Mountain" arc. We've already gotten some, along with a number of unanswered questions that will be answered in the next chapter, I promise.**

 **Jaune meets Weiss's father for the first time with a frankly impressive display of passive agressiveness and veiled insults. He'd best be careful, or Weiss may begin to suspect something...**

 **Our Champion has also turned Jacques's dinner plan against him, turning it from a private dinner into what is basically going to have to be a full blown banquet. It sure would be hard to manipulate Jaune when he's surrounded by his friends, though I'm sure Jacques would _never_ try such a thing.**

 **If you liked this chapter then feel free to follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY or RWBY fanfics then please tell them about this story! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far, then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BYYYYYYEEEEE!**

 **Want to send a buck or two my way? Here's a link to my P a treon: https:(slash)(slash) .com(slash)user?u=4652041**


	17. Chapter 17

**HEEELLLLLOOOOOO!**

 **Been awhile since this one was updated, huh? I bet some of you thought that this story was dead in the water! Well it's not! I busted out my Necronomicon and necromancied that shit!**

 **I'm not gonna keep y'all from this chapter any longer! WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

He sat by the young squire's bedside and watched Jaune sleep.

"What will you become?" He muttered to himself. The sleeping boy didn't answer.

Hazel Rainart rubbed his chin thoughtfully as Jaune continued to sleep. The boy looked peaceful, content.

Exposed. _Vulnerable._

Hazel had been sure to slip into the hospital when none of the boy's friends were near. The Gryphon was off hunting, and his fellow students were at the Academy. The large man had snuck into the hospital through an emergency exit left partially open with its alarm disabled by one of his agents. The security cameras were currently experiencing a convenient malfunction and were showing nothing save static. No one would know he was here. No one would interrupt him.

He reached a hand into his overcoat, pulled out a dagger...

and slipped it under the boy's pillow. He pulled out a folded piece of paper next. "You're lucky," he grunted to the sleeping boy as he placed the paper by his bedside. "If it weren't for my agents in this hospital Salem's assassins would have sunk a dagger into your unsuspecting throat."

Salem didn't know he had ever been here, nor would she. As far as she knew it was Ozpin's agents protecting Jaune. As far as she knew Hazel was a loyal servant to her and her goals.

And he was. To an extent.

"Maybe you will actually defeat her," Hazel said as he stood up. He opened the door to the room and left, shutting it silently behind himself.

"Or maybe you won't."

* * *

Jaune's eyes widened as he read the note. It had been left on his bedside, marked only as 'from a friend.'

 _Champion,_

 _You don't know who I am. If I wished it you would never learn either, but as a show of friendship I will give you my name. I trust that you will keep it to yourself._

 _My name is Hazel Rainart. My ultimate goals are my own, but may align with yours at least for now. At times, they may align with Salem's goals._

Jaune's mouth dried.

 _My agents are located throughout the hospital. Your doctor, Albus, is one of them. They have been making sure that Salem's assassins don't reach you. As far as Salem herself knows they are Ozpin's agents. She has no idea I've acted against her, and I need it to stay that way._

 _It's possible that my agents may not be able to stop every assassin, or I may have to remove them from the hospital. I have stashed a dagger under your pillow. If you come under attack it will serve you better than your halberd within the confined spaces of your room._

He reached under his pillow and withdrew the aforementioned dagger. The blade was 8 inches long and wickedly sharp. Jaune was glad that this Hazel hadn't decided to use it on him in his sleep. If nothing else it showed that Hazel truly didn't want him dead. At least for now. He tucked the dagger back under his pillow and went back to the letter.

 _I wish to end this letter with a warning: under no circumstances should you trust Headmaster Ozpin. You may think he's on your side, but he is on no one's side save his own. Ozpin's goals and yours align for now. When his goals and yours diverge, and they will eventually, Ozpin will turn on you like he has so many others, and attempt to eliminate you when you become a liability._

 _If you don't believe me, then look at what happened to the Fall Maiden._

Jaune lowered the letter and leaned back. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Holy shit..."

Okay, _that_ was a lot to take in. This Hazel had been in his room, and despite never laying eyes on him Jaune could tell that he was a dangerous man. Lady's sake, his _doctor_ was a spy for this man! Jaune wondered who else in the hospital and the rest of Vale worked for him. Could he have agents within Beacon itself?

No, Jaune decided. Ozpin's hold on Beacon itself was too strong. The headmaster would never allow an enemy agent to infiltrate the school directly.

* * *

Sitting in her room and plotting the demise of Beacon, Vale, and Jaune Arc, Cinder Fall sneezed.

* * *

Speaking of Ozpin...

Jaune re-read the portion of the letter about the Headmaster. Could he really believe the word of a stranger, one who had snuck into his room while he was asleep and defenseless, over that of the Headmaster of Beacon?

 _If you don't believe me, then look at what happened to the Fall Maiden._

What did that mean? Did Ozpin have the Fall Maiden taken out? If that was the case why would his man Qrow save her?

Logical thinking told Jaune that he could trust the Headmaster. After all, he had done nothing to harm Jaune or his friends in any way. He had even allowed the squire to enter Beacon when he knew Jaune's transcripts had been faked.

However Talon had taught Jaune to never look at a situation just from the logical viewpoint. _"Your instincts, like those of anyy animal, exist for the purpose of keeping you alive. If your instincts are telling you something is wrong, then at least heed them and act cautiously. Never ignore them outright, lest you find a dagger in your back."_

Right now Jaune's instincts were screaming at him that he was missing something vital.

The door to his room flung open. "DUDE!"

Jaune yanked the dagger out from under his pillow and held it up as five figures barged into his room. They stumbled to a halt and backed up. "Whoa man, chill!"

Jaune lowered the dagger, his heart pounding in his chest. "Oh my god Sun, you guys almost gave me a heart attack!"

Sun, Neptune, Scarlet, Sage, and Ren stood uncertainly by the door of his room. Jaune realized he still had the dagger in his hands and put it down. "What do you want?" he snapped. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry guys..."

Sun, bless him, laughed it off. "It's cool bro! If I had the White Fang out to get me I'd probably be a bit paranoid too."

A week ago the Vale branch of the White Fang had publicly declared that Jaune was a threat to their organization, and to all of Faunus kind. The declaration hadn't gone over well with most people, both human and Faunus, but a few radicals in the city had taken their words to heart and on occasion protests popped up around the city that usually turned violent.

If nothing else, it made being stuck in the hospital a bit more interesting. Whenever protesters gathered in front of the hospital Talon chased them off shrieking and snapping like a mad beast, though he never laid a paw on anyone. The protesters complained of course, but the police weren't about to step in and tell the massive cat bird to stop chasing off the terrorist sympathizers. damn if that didn't sound weird out of context.

However faced with the new information granted to him by Hazel Jaune had forgotten all about the White Fang until Sun had mentioned them.

"So what brings you guys here? Not that I can complain about having some male company for once." Jaune hadn't failed to notice before that the vast majority of his friends were female. At first he hadn't seen a problem with this, few men would after all, but two weeks into his hospital stay Jaune had noticed that one of his nurses had changed the color nail polish she used and had thought that it clashed with her skin tone. At that point he decided it was high time he find some more male friends for both himself and Ren. It wasn't an easy task to do while bed ridden, but team SSSN was a godsend for the both of them, and Jaune already knew one of their members, even if his and Neptune's relationship was a bit... rocky, to say the least.

Sun grinned conspiratorially as Sage held up a duffel bag. "We're busting you out bro!"

Ren rolled his eyes. "Say it louder Sun, I don't think the people in Vacuo heard you."

"Oh, right," the monkey Faunus leaned closer to Jaune and whispered, "we're busting you out bro."

Jaune looked at Ren over Sun's shoulder. "And you're going through with this?"

The ninja shrugged. "I didn't really have a choice. They came out of nowhere, said something about a guys' day out, and dragged me the whole way here."

A guys' day out? While Jaune would have loved nothing more, there was just one problem. "I'm not strong enough to walk around on my own yet. Unless one of you is planning on carrying me, I hope you brought something for me to lean on."

"Pshh, dude, we thought of everything." Sun laughed. "Neptune, hit it."

Sage opened the duffel bag and pulled out items as Neptune called them out. "We got you a stylish walking cane." The cane's top was silver and shaped like an eagle's head, while the wood was black and polished to a sheen. "Some kickin' threads." Sage pulled out a white overcoat with gold trim, followed by a white dress shirt, black slacks, and a navy blue vest also with gold trim. "And some rocking shoes to tie the whole outfit together." The final item to come out of the bag was a pair of black dress boots that went halfway up his forelegs. The top of them was also trimmed with gold.

"I.. guys, these clothes are _really_ nice." Jaune ran his hand over the shirt. While he was no expert, he was pretty sure it was made from silk. "Where did you get them? How did you afford them?"

None of the members of SSSN answered. Neptune looked away, Sage suddenly found his shoes to be very interesting, Scarlet was focused on brushing a nonexistent wrinkle out of his shirt, and Sun was staring as the ceiling, whistling.

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "You didn't."

Sun laughed nervously. "I mean... I've always thought 'steal' was such a strong word. I prefer 'liberate'."

Jaune's hand collided with his face. "Guys..." he groaned.

* * *

Sun knocked on the door to Jaune's room from outside. "You almost ready?"

"Just about!" Jaune called back as he struggled to get the overcoat on. He had insisted they leave the room while he changed. He wanted to see if he could manage it on his own. Though it had taken awhile and his sides were killing him, he'd managed to get totally dressed on his own. He considered it a personal victory.

The young squire looked at himself in the mirror of the small bathroom of his hospital room. It had been four weeks since the Battle of the Breach, and in that time Jaune had changed. He had allowed his hair to grow out and it now hung down a couple inches past his shoulders. He smiled and flicked a lock of hair behind his ear. The greatest changes had been to his eyes and the rest of his body. His eyes glowed dimly with power and glowed a bit brighter everyday, and if one looked close enough they would see blue flames flickering within the irises. Despite being stuck in the hospital for weeks and being unable to train his body had not suffered for it. Instead he was grown several inches and he had put on considerable muscle mass. The changes had confused him at first and totally befuddled the doctors, but Talon had explained what was happening to him.

 _"You're Ascending,"_ the Gryphon had explained, _"It happens to all Gryphon Knights eventually. When a warrior of the Order performs their first act of Unmatched Valor the Lady blesses them and their body begins to grow in stature and power. It's a sign of her favor, and the mark of a true knight of the Order. Most knights typically stop Ascending when they reach about seven feet in height and are strong enough to lift a blacksmith's anvil with one arm and hold it up with ease. You however will probably grow beyond that. Cailan's Ascending happened before I met him, but he stood at eight feet tall and could fling a boulder several hundred feet if pressed. I would not be shocked if you wound up being the same, if not stronger."_

"Do you know what Cailan's act of Unmatched Valor was?" Jaune had asked.

 _"It was during the siege of Caerdinia's city fortress, Athenius. Caerdinia was an honorable warrior Queen and was highly respected by her fellow monarchs. Salem sent an army of Grimm ten thousand strong to devastate her holdings. When Caerdinia called for aid the other surrounding nations ignored her call for aid, fearing Salem's wrath. At the time Cailan was virtually unknown and had no followers, but he answered her call. Her city held out for months against the horde, but through weight of numbers the Grimm eventually breached the gates and began to overrun the defenders. Alone Cailan held the gates and bought time for the defenders to rally. For three days of unbroken combat Cailan led the defense of the gates without rest, until reinforcements from the far off nation of Spartanias arrived. Caerdinia's cry for help had reached them and they came to honor an ancient agreement created when both cities were the capitals of empires, and their lands had been much closer together. The Grimm were all put to the sword and Athenius was saved. It was the battle that spread Cailan's legend across Remnant and where he began to build an army."_

Jaune had been able to feel the wistfulness radiating off of the Gryphon. "You miss him, don't you?"

 _"Everyday of my life,"_ the Gryphon confirmed. _"But it's not so bad. I have you and Nathaniel now, especially you."_

The War beast had been silent for a moment, then had said, _"you remind me of him. You're more like Cailan than you realize. You have his drive, his zeal, his unconscious charisma. If he were here now he'd be proud of you."_

 _"Which is why you worry me."_

That had shocked Jaune. "Why would me being like Cailan be a bad thing?"

 _"Because he **died** Jaune," _Talon had snapped with such mental force that Jaune had winced as though struck. _"You don't know what it's like for a Gryphon to lose his or her bond mate. For a Gryphon Knight the pain is excruciating, but for a Gryphon it's uncomprehendably worse. We are made specifically for our riders, each and every one of us. When our Knight dies and the mental link is severed the agony is unbearable. It drives us insane in seconds. When Cailan died Marusus was fortunate enough for us to have reached the sanctuary. When the mental link was severed I was overcome with bloodlust. Had Vaya not put me to sleep then and there I would have killed Marusus. Even through my long sleep I could still feel the agony for thousands of years. I will not go through that again. I will not lose you too, not even if it means the world suffers for my decision."_

"Yo dude!" Sun knocked harder on the door. "You alive in there?"

Jaune jumped as he came back to reality. "I'm coming!" He looked out the still smashed window of his room. Whenever the hospital staff tried to cover the hole or replace the window Talon just smashed through it again.

 _"I will not lose you too, not even if it means the world suffers for my decision."_

Jaune tucked the dagger under his coat and picked up the cane. "Don't worry buddy," he whispered, "I'm not going anywhere."

He stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind himself. Jaune grinned at the others. "Where to first?"

* * *

Weiss Schnee hummed to herself as she walked down the halls of Azure Memorial hospital, a stack of books in her hands.

In the weeks that had passed since the battle of the Breach Weiss had taken it upon herself to tutor Jaune while Nathaniel was away. Her reasons for doing this were two fold. It was a way of thanking Jaune and repaying him for everything he'd done for her. It was also to help Jaune prepare for the charity ball her father was hosting.

A day after Jaune had invited his team, her team, team CRDL, and Nathaniel to what had originally been a dinner between Jaune and the Schnee family her father had decided to up the anti and turn it into a charity ball to help pay to repair the damage caused during the battle. The social elite of the four nations had been invited to attend with the promise of meeting Jaune.

Of course if her father was at all actually concerned with repairing the breach Weiss knew the Schnee Dust Corporation could have paid for the entire repair operation with little effect on their bottom line. Or her father could have just paid for it all out of pocket. It wasn't like he didn't have the money for it.

It was all a PR front. Weiss didn't think for a second that all of the money raised would go to the repair efforts. Some of it would go to the purpose it was raised for, perhaps about half of it, but the rest would line the pockets of corrupt officials the SDC wanted to look the other way on some of their less legal activities, or would be used to fund _other_ overly extravagant events.

But then raising money was only a small part of the purpose of these events. The true reason anyone attended was to see, be seen, and make or break connections.

And at the party all eyes were going to rest firmly on Jaune.

Which is why Weiss had taken it upon herself to tutor him in every subject he would need to know for the ball. From knowledge on the Dust trade to knowing how to hold a spoon Weiss wouldn't let Jaune walk into the deep end of social elite politics without knowing how to navigate those treacherous waters. The slightest slip up, the slightest mistake on his part, and the sharks in those waters would tear him apart. She knew all too well from personal experience.

Aaaaand if she was being honest with herself being around Jaune was... nice. Now that she could see the person beyond the inane flirting Weiss could see what Ruby and Pyrrha were attracted to. He was nice, funny, unconsciously charming, and far more intelligent than she had given him credit for. Though he hated all of the "courtly intriuge" she was making him learn he was absorbing and retaining the information remarkably well.

There was something else about him too. Something about him that was buried deep within that had never come out before, but had been unleashed at the battle of the Breach. Whatever it was had changed Jaune permanently both physically and mentally. His body had grown in size and muscle mass, and his eyes literally glowed and burned with blue fire, to say nothing of the messy blonde hair he'd allowed to grow even longer and messier.

But the greatest change was to his personality. It was nothing immediately obvious, and she doubted the others had noticed it yet, but Weiss had recently begun to spend more time around him as his tutor, taking three or four days out of a week to teach him everything he needed to know for the ball. The changes weren't anything considerable, but sometimes Weiss thought that there was another person in Jaune's skin. On occasion she could swear that when she looked at his face she saw another face overlaid on his, but it disappeared after a split second.

"Jaune?" the door to his room creaked as she pushed it open. "It's me. Are you ready for your less-" Weiss gasped as the books slid out of her arms to the floor.

Jaune was gone.

* * *

"Hey man, you alright?"

Jaune looked away from the ocean at Neptune. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just feel like I forgot something. Whatever it is can't be too important if I forgot it though, you know?"

"Good point," Neptune laughed as he took a sip from his hot tea and looked back at Scarlet as the red head continued his story.

"So then the squirrel runs off taking my underwear with it, and I'm still missing my eyeliner..."

Jaune chuckled as Scarlet continued his story about the time he'd try to cook breakfast for the team, though the squire's attention wasn't entirely on the story. He winced as he felt the mental pull on his subconscious again and glanced at the open square from the balcony they were all sitting on.

After Ren and team SSSN had snuck him out of the hospital they had gotten a cab and taken him to what was commonly called the shopping lane. It was a street lined with restaurants and shops of all kinds, and was widely considered to be a prime tourist location. Their first stop was a tea shop where Jaune could get some food that _wasn't_ hospital 'food'. However the moment they had arrived Jaune had felt an odd tugging sensation and a compulsion to go to the town square. Something was calling to him.

 _"You've begun to feel their call then,"_ Talon said as he swooped down and landed on the roof of the building opposite of the tea shop. The Gryphon ignored the people below who were shouting in excitement and pointing up at him. Several pulled out their scrolls and began snapping pictures.

Jaune subtly moved his chair back from the edge of the railing to keep himself hidden from the people down below. Their waitress was already freaking out over Jaune being at the cafe. He didn't need the whole street asking for his autograph or trying to get selfies with him. _"What is it?"_ Jaune asked.

 _"I don't suppose you've heard of Sigmund the mighty?"_

 _"I can't say I have, no."_

Jaune could almost hear Talon sighing. _"I thought not. People today are so uneducated about their history. It seems that while Salem failed to wipe out human and faunus kind she succeeded in destroying your knowledge of the past."_

 _"When the world was young and woman kind first walked Remnant women did not know war. Women cared for Vaya's lesser creatures and cultivated the land. When Salem sent her Grimm hordes they were unprepared for the onslaught. Thousands died in the first weeks of the war and Vaya herself took the field to defend her children, but she couldn't be everywhere at once, so She trained women in the arts of war and metal working so they could defend themselves. For years women fought tooth and nail to defend their homes. They struck the Grimm from hidden fortresses and disappeared just as quickly to make the most of their natural speed and agility, but it wasn't enough. Whenever the Grimm found a settlement there was little they could do save flee to the nearest settlement and hope that one would remain hidden. On and on it went until it became clear to Vaya that without more help women would be unable to survive."_

 _"In a mountain fortress far to the north Vaya took up her hammer and began forging a new breed of warrior: man. When Vaya made woman kind she made their bodies from soil and clay and their souls were made from the fire of the hearth. When she made the first man she forged him from steel and and his soul was made from coursing and violent lightning. This man, the first man, she named Sigmund, and gifted him a mighty war hammer infused with the power of lightning. One hundred other men she made this way, each of them gifted with a war hammer, though only Sigmund's held the power of lightning within it. Ten thousand more men were crafted from stone and armed with an assortment of weapons, and at the head of his army Sigmund marched from the frozen north to aid Remnant. Side by side men and women drove the Grimm back, Sigmund at their head wearing a circlet of lighting upon his brow. Eventually Salem and the last of her Grimm retreated into the darkest places of Remnant and awaited the time when they could return. With the Grimm defeated Sigmund married his love, a warrior queen named Allaria, and the two ruled together as the first king and queen of Remnant within the first great city of Remnant called Vallis. When he died he was buried in the tomb that held the remains of his warriors that had fallen in battle against the Grimm. Sigmund and Allaria had their palace built over the tomb of his warriors. His was the last body buried within it."_

 _"Thousands of years later settlers established a city upon the ruins of Vallis. This city was named after the ancient city that had originally resided there, as a reminder of all we had lost in the past. The new city was named Vale, and it has stood ever since."_

 _"That pull you feel? That's the lingering souls of Sigmund and his warriors calling to you. They refused the warm embrace of Vaya and chose for their souls to linger within their tomb, awaiting the time when Remnant may need to call upon them one last time to drive back the shadows."_

* * *

Weiss paced back and forth as she waited for the call to go through. "Yes, hello? My name is Weiss Schnee and my friend Jaune Arc is missing from his- what? No this is not a prank call! I am actually Weiss Schnee! I would like to report a missing person! My friend Jaune is missing from his hospital room and you need to send out a search party! What do you mean you can't send out a search party until twenty four hours has passed?! Do you know who I am?! If _anything_ happens to him because you refused to send out a search party then I will bury the entire Vale Police Department under so many law suits you'll need a shovel the size of Remnant to dig your way out! I will-" the call disconnected on the police department's side.

The heiress howled in frustration and flung her scroll at Jaune's empty bed. "Stupid useless police! Fine! I'll find him myself then, even if that means I have to tear Vale apart to do it!" She snatched her scroll up and stormed out of Jaune's hospital room. "I swear if he's not in trouble and did something stupid like sneak out I will _kill_ him..."

* * *

Jaune bit back a sigh as the waitress repeated her question for the fifth time.

"Are you sure there's _nothing_ I can get you?" She bit her lip and tilted her head. "Maybe some dessert... to go?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Jaune said with forced politeness, "I am absolutely sure I'm fine ma'am, but thank you regardless. You've been a great hostess." Jaune made a mental note to leave her a sizable tip. Even if her constantly asking if he 'needed anything sweet to put his lips on,' had gotten on his nerves pretty quickly she was clearly dedicated to her job. She deserved a good tip.

As the hostess walked away Neptune's face fell into his hands and he groaned as though he were in pain. The others, even Ren, were staring at Jaune like he'd grown a second head. "What's everyone looking at?" he asked defensively. "I was polite to her, wasn't I?"

"You..." Neptune sighed as he looked up from his hands at Jaune disbelievingly. "You're serious, aren't you? You seriously missed the message she was sending you?"

Jaune blinked. "Message?" Over their mental link Talon groaned and hung his head.

"She was interested in you," Ren explained, "romantically."

Jaune's face began to turn red. "Oh..."

"I mean," Sun shrugged, "she's pretty cute, and obviously interested. Why not give it a go?"

Neptune perked up and looked at Jaune. "Hey, yeah! Why not give it a go? The worse thing that can happen is it doesn't work out."

The squire laughed nervously. "I-I'm not really interested guys," he said, "but thanks though."

"Are you _sure_?" Neptune pressed, leaning a bit closer to Jaune.

For his part the blonde boy leaned back and looked at Neptune with a raised eyebrow. "Yes Neptune, I'm sure."

Neptune leaned back in his chair. "Aw, alright." He looked... disappointed?

Jaune frowned. _"Neptune seemed oddly eager to try and convince me to pursue the waitress."_

Talon snickered over their mental link. _"As much time as you spend around Weiss I should think he'd be downright desperate for you to spend more time around other ladies. Though Cinder certainly seems to be spending plenty of time with you..."_

 _"Shut up,"_ Jaune snapped over the link, his cheeks turning red. _"She's just a friend."_

 _"And how long will she remain 'just a friend'?"_ Talon shot back. _"You're attracted to her, and Weiss is currently taken so you can't use your feelings for her as an excuse."_

 _"You **know** why I can't be with her, or anyone. Anyone I get close to is-"_

 _"Yes yes I know. anyone you get close to is in danger and Salem will use anyone you love against you. Though that hasn't seemed to stop you from spending time with your friends, or keeping in contact with your family."_

Jaune winced. _"I-"_

 _"Face it Jaune. You're being a little fool. Even if you were to just run away in some misguided attempt to protect your loved ones that wouldn't stop Salem from targeting them if she wished to. Instead you should be grateful that her attention seems to be focused on you, and not on attacking those closest to you. Salem, fortunately, lacks an understanding of love or empathy. She doesn't understand that the best way to hurt you is to target those close to you."_

Talon stood and spread his wings. _"I would encourage you to pursue a relationship with someone. Lady knows you have enough options, though you somehow remain blind to most of them. Try to have yourself figured out before Nathaniel and the others return."_ With that the Gryphon took to the skies and flew back to the Emerald Forest to hunt, much to the disappointment of the people gathered below.

"Uh, hey guys..." Scarlet held up his scroll. "So I just got an alert on Squeaker. You're going to want to see this."

Jaune and the others gathered around Scarlet and read the squeak.

 **"OMG! I just served #jaunearc at Bill's Tea Shop on Amethyst street! #theheroofvale #hisbiggestfan**

"Huh, there's even a picture of us," Sun said, "I wonder when she took that."

Jaune's eyebrows raised in surprise. "I have a hashtag?"

"Two, actually," corrected Scarlet. "The hero of Vale hashtag is also about you."

"Oh... wait a minute, are you following our waitress on Squeaker?"

"Nope. It's the number one trending squeak right now. Pretty impressive considering that it was just uploaded a minute ago."

"Wait," Neptune looked up. "The _number one_ trending squeak?"

"Uh... yeah, dude, I just said that. I got an alert and everything."

"Then... that means everyone with squeaker got that same alert, right?"

Sun peeked over the edge of the balcony railing. "Guys..."

The others peered over the railing. The crowd below, drawn by the presence of Talon and probably already thinking Jaune was somewhere nearby, were checking their scrolls and almost certainly reading the tweet. One young woman looked up from her phone at the tea shop. Jaune ducked his head under the railing, but he was too late. She had seen him. "There he is!" she shouted as she pointed at the tea shop.

"Uh oh," whispered Scarlet as the crowd started making its way towards the tea shop.

"What do we do?" asked Sun.

Jaune and Ren looked at each other. Silently they reached an understanding and nodded to one another. Jaune picked up his cup, finished off the tea, and put it back down. He smiled charmingly at the boys of SSSN. "It's simple men."

"We run like cowards."

* * *

Weiss pulled out her scroll as it buzzed. It was just an update from Squeaker. She almost put her scroll away without checking it until she saw one part of the tweet.

 **#jaunearc**

"What?!"

She read the squeak in its entirety, then saw the picture beneath it.

Jaune was sitting with the boys of SSSN at a tea shop, laughing and generally just seemed like he was enjoying himself. He was also wearing a very classy suit.

"I'm going to kill him," she hissed.

In fact, she was going to need some help with amount of punishment she was going to dish out on him.

She dialed in the number in her scroll and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. A few seconds later it did. "Hi Pyrrha! You saw the squeak too? Great, get Ruby and come meet me at the hospital. We're going to drag him back here and strap him back into his hospital bed."

* * *

With Jaune in Sage's arms the boys of SSSN and Ren leapt over the railing of the balcony, sailed over the head of the crowd below, and took off running through the streets. A loud commotion behind caught Jaune's attention and he looked behind them. "They're following us!" He yelped.

Sure enough the crowd was chasing after them. Fortunately the boys were trained huntsmen, and thus in far better shape than any civilian. Unfortunately none of them were familiar with Vale, and in their panicked retreat they managed to get lost rather quickly.

"Great, we're lost," Scarlet groaned as the six boys walked through the streets. Jaune was walking on his own two feet with assistance from the cane, but he could tell the others were keeping their pace slow for him. He looked at their surroundings. The buildings were older and dilapidated, mostly apartment buildings, with a few people on the streets, though they gave the six strangers a wide berth. More than a few people stared at him with interest and whispered to their friends. He wasn't sure if it was because of his fame, or his clothes, but it made him uneasy.

"Wait a minute," Neptune said as he stopped and looked around. "I think I know where we are."

"Really?" Ren asked. "I'm almost afraid to ask why you're familiar with this part of town..."

"It's nothing bad," the bluenette said defensively, "when Yang and I were investigating into the White Fang's activities she brought me out here to a club owned by an information broker she ah... _knows_. I don't think we're too far away from the club."

Jaune frowned. "This... isn't the club that Yang destroyed, is it?"

Neptune shrugged. "I mean... they didn't exactly seem happy with her when we arrived."

Jaune sighed. "Well, at least we can get some directions there."

Scarlet's scroll dinged. He pulled it out and looked at it. He winced. "Run."

Sun frowned. "Run?"

"THERE HE IS!"

The six boys turned around and saw a massive wall of people barreling towards them. Jaune leapt into Sage's open and waiting arms. "Right then! To the club! RETREAT!"

The six of them took off at a dead spring following Neptune's directions. "Left here!" They turned left down the streets and the fans turned with them, but once again the six boys quickly outpaced them, even with Sage having to carry Jaune. A few minutes later they arrived at their destination.

"Wait, it's literally just called 'The Club'?" Jaune frowned as he leaned on his cane. "That's not very inventive."

"It still does pretty well," Neptune replied. "It was packed when Yang and I were here."

"Looks pretty empty right now," Sun remarked.

Sage opened his mouth and-

"Probably because it's a _night_ club. It's the middle of the day. They're probably getting ready for tonight and taking care of the odd customer or two."

Sage sighed and closed his mouth. Ren patted his arm understandingly.

Jaune looked around nervously. Some people were staring at them, a couple of them whispering to their friends. He was pretty sure he heard his own name once or twice. "We should get in before people start taking photos and posting about us on Squeaker."

The others agreed and Neptune led them inside.

* * *

Hei Xong Junior didn't like blonde huntsmen and huntresses, for one very obvious reason.

The damage that girl had caused had taken several months and a whole lot of lien to repair fully, and Hei had been forced to call in more than a couple favors to make sure less... legitimate businesses didn't become common knowledge. Technically Hei Xong was a totally legitimate man now, and for the most part he _was_ , but at the end of the day he was an information broker. As such he did work for people on both sides of the law, and those that tended to straddle the line. He was effectively a neutral party, and knew information on almost everyone of prominence in Vale. Sure, he _could_ tell the White Fang that Councilor Stratus, whose platform had been very anti-faunus for the past twenty years, had a fetish for cat girls, but leaking that kind of information would bring the Councillor down on him like a sack of bricks. By that same merit he _could_ inform Beacon Academy or the police about the locations of multiple White Fang cells operating within Vale, but that would only bring the White Fang down on him like an equally large sack of bricks. So he kept the most juicy bits of info for himself, and gave out _just_ enough details on the various factions in Vale to keep things interesting, and to keep them fighting one another and not wondering just how much he knew about their own activities.

However there was one individual who he knew more about than most people might think: Jaune Arc, the hero of Vale.

Hei had been the one who Jaune had approached for his forged transcripts for Beacon. Forged documents had been something Junior had dabbled in a few years back, but after a close run in with the law that almost saw him locked up for good the information broker had decided to drop that particular activity before he wound up in a situation he couldn't bribe or talk his way out of. However the kid had offered him a pretty penny for the documents and had seemed pretty desperate, so he had made the documents, though he had done his best to be sure they couldn't be traced back to him.

He had thought that the kid was just another dreamer with little real training hoping hard work and determination would be enough for him to make it through initiation. Clearly he'd been wrong. The kid had almost single handedly stopped a Grimm invasion in the middle of the city. He wasn't called the Hero of Vale for nothing. Hei had toyed with the idea of using the information on Jaune's forged transcripts to gain some leverage on him, maybe make him do a few favors for Junior, but the information broker had decided against it. The kid was cleary hell bent on fighting the Grimm and even the White Fang, and that could only be good for Hei, Vale, and Remnant as a whole. Messing with that wouldn't do anyone any favors.

Besides, the last time Junior had had the bright idea to try and use information as leverage on someone in Beacon fully a quarter of his informants had wound up dead on his doorstep in a not so subtle message. Junior wasn't about to screw with Beacon a second time.

The large man sighed as he wiped down another glass. As exciting as being an information broker could be, most of the time it was pretty monotonous, as was running a night club. More often than his biggest concern was making sure there was enough liquor for all of his patrons, no one was slipping shit into the drinks of pretty girls, and keeping dumb ass teenagers from over dosing in the middle of his dance floor so their rich mommies and daddies didn't sue him for everything he had.

Though as one of his hired goons directed his attention to the entrance Junior realized today was going to be a bit more exciting than normal.

Six young men, clearly huntsmen and two of them blonde, unfortunately, had just entered. The muscle around the club eyed them warily, their hands drifting closer to their weapons. Miltia and Melanie both inched a tad closer, looking at Hei for orders. Inwardly the bartender cursed. The only ones who could handle huntsmen, even students, were himself and the twins, and the three of them had been taken apart by one girl. Granted the three of them had put greater focus on their training so it wouldn't happen again, but he doubted they could handle all six if they decided they wanted to start trouble.

Then his eyes widened behind his glasses as he recognized the one in the fancy clothes.

Jaune Arc. _The_ Jaune Arc.

Hei waved over Melanie and Militia. "What's Jaune Arc doing here?" Melanie asked. "I thought he was still in the hospital."

"I don't know," Junior said, "but we're going to give him the best of our hospitality. Melanie, Militia, go greet him. Give him your best."

* * *

Ren nudged Jaune's side. "Looks like we've attracted some attention." He gestures to two women making their way over to them. They were dressed in high end clothes and were very beautiful, but it was impossible to miss the weapons they carried. These girls weren't just pretty faces.

Jaune blinked. "Is that... Melanie and Miltia?"

The others looked at him, surprised. "You know them?" Ren asked.

Jaune winced. "I wouldn't say I know them..." Melanie and Miltia had been with the man who had supplied Jaune with his forged transcripts, Hei Xong Junior. If they were here, then that meant... ah, crap.

The bluenette smirked. "Leave this to me." He sauntered over to them. "Ladies, so good to-"

"Whatever," they said in unison as they walked right by him. They walked up to Jaune and inclined their heads respectfully. "Welcome esteemed customer," they said in unison.

"Hei Jong Junior, the owner of this fine establishment," the white one continued-

"Would like to offer you a private table," the red one finished. "I am Miltia."

"And I am Melanie."

In unison they said, "and we will be your servers for the day." They smiled dazzlingly at him, stepped to either side of him, and looped their arms around his. A red faced spluttering Jaune was led to a table off to the side that was cordoned off by a velvet rope with two men in suits and sunglasses flanking it. At the table sat a large man in a similar suit and sunglasses, the Hei Xong Junior in question.

"Wait, what about the rest of us?" Sun asked as the two ladies guided Jaune away.

"It's not fair..." Neptune mumbled despondently, his head hung low. "He didn't even try..."

* * *

"R-really, girls, there's no need for this," Jaune said nervously as he was guided to the table. He was unable to ignore the fact that they were pretty much pressed up against him on either side. It was equally impossible to ignore how warm their bodies were where their hips were pressed against his, and his body was reacting accordingly.

"Nonsense," the girl in white, Melanie, said with another dazzling smile that made his face go redder.

"It is our pleasure to host the hero of Vale," Militia said with an equally stunning smile. "Without you, we would be out of a job after all."

"Having Grimm in the establishment is bad for business," Melanie added.

"Ha, yeah... I guess..."

The girls led him to the table and helped him into his seat. Jaune winced as the movement bothered his sides, but said nothing. The girls sat on either side of him, uncomfortably close.

The man before Jaune was almost as tall as Nathaniel. He held up a glass to the blonde.

"Mr. Arc. It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Heh, hey Junior..."

The large man pushed a glass full of an amber liquid across the table. "Vale Whiskey, right from my own personal stock. Go ahead, try some."

"Uh, I'm still healing. I don't know if I should be drinking anything alcoholic right now," he said apologetically, "but thank you for the offer."

Hei shrugged, seemingly unconcerned, and picked up the glass. He downed the contents in one gulp. "Hey, more for me then. Melanie, go get him a glass of water."

Melanie stood from her seat and made her way to the bar, but brushed her hand over his as she stood up, making Jaune flinch in surprise, then grunt in pain as the sudden movement made his sides twinge with pain. Junior didn't miss this. "I'm surprised you're up at all," he said casually. "From what I understand you were on death's door for a little while."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't fun." Melanie slipped back into her seat next to him and held out the glass.

"Here is your drink, Mr. Arc." Jaune went to reach for it, but she pulled it back at the last moment. The white clad girl tapped a finger against her lips, as though in thought. "Come to think about it, you're still injured, aren't you? I'm no nurse, but even I know an injured man shouldn't be feeding himself. Perhaps I should hold it up to your lips for you."

Jaune had over time begun to grow used to people treating him differently because of his newfound notoriety, but he still wasn't used to this much physical contact with an attractive woman (barring Cinder), let alone two of them. When Jaune had met Hei for his forged transcripts the two girls had paid little to no attention to him. As Jaune's face began to heat up a part of him wished that he could go back to the two girls ignoring him. Another part of him disagreed. It was a problem he'd been having when it came to attractive women who were attracted to him. Cinder, for example. One part of him said no, while another part screamed _yes_.

Jaune looked at Junior, silently pleading for the man to control the two girls, but the large man simply watched with an upturned eyebrow, and Jaune swore he could see the corner of the man's mouth twitching upwards in amusement. Lady dammit, there'd be no help from that quarter evidently. He turned to take the glass from Melanie. It was a simple movement, but even that was enough to make his side twinge in pain, and he winced. Melanie and Miltia didn't miss this. "I think that means yes sister," Miltia giggled. The white clad sister raised the glass to his lips and her sister held it up with her. Begrudgingly Jaune opened his mouth and let them press the glass against his lips. He told himself that he'd done his best to deny them, but he knew he was lying to himself. On the edge of his mind Jaune could feel Talon chuckling at his expense. Red faced, Jaune mentally told Talon to shut it as the girls lowered the glass.

"So what brings you here?" Junior asked after refilling his own shot glass. "As you know I have all kind of services I can provide." One eyebrow crooked upwards. "There's not a problem with your transcripts are there?"

Jaune chuckled nervously. "Actually... Ozpin knows they're fake. He probably always knew."

"No kidding." Junior downed the whiskey in one gulp and poured another. "Well I suppose that's not too surprising. There was always the chance he'd find out."

Jaune spluttered. "Y-you knew he'd find out?"

"No, I knew he _could_ find out. By my estimation the chances of the transcripts working were about... fifty/fifty, if I'm feeling generous. Though if it's any consolation the fact that Ozpin decided to keep you even after he found out says a lot about you." He held up his glass in a salute to Jaune.

"I..." Jaune sighed and shook his head. His transcripts weren't why he was here. It wasn't like their authenticity mattered much anyway these days. "I'm not here about the transcripts. Honestly my friends and I came here to ask directions back to Azure medical. We're kinda lost." He admitted sheepishly.

Junior grunted. "Well that's a new one. Can't ever say I've had someone come to my door asking for directions." He shrugged. "I'll have a car brought around. It'll take you and your friends back to the hospital. Unless there was anything else you wanted?"

"No I-" Jaune was cut off as the girls raised the glass to his lips again, though the pause did give him time to realize something. "Actually, there is something," he said after the girls had lowered the glass again. "You know just about everything worth knowing, right?"

Junior grinned. "Kid, I either know it, or I know someone who knows it, or I can find it out. What do you want to know? Just so you know I don't work for free. My information comes with a price."

"I don't really have much money," Jaune admitted.

Junior shrugged. "There are other kinds of payments. I often trade information for other information, so you can pay me in that way."

Jaune was suddenly cautious. Ever since he'd met Nathaniel Jaune had learned a lot of information, much of which would be dangerous if it became common knowledge. He though of Amber, hidden beneath Beacon. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"How about you ask me what you want to know, and I'll ask something that I consider to be of equal importance."

"You realize that I may not be able to give you the answer you want?"

Junior shrugged again. "That's a risk I'm willing to take. Go ahead, ask me what you want to ask me."

Jaune thought about it. If Junior asked him about something that Jaune couldn't divulge the information broker would probably not be happy with him, but the blonde had five huntsmen in training and a Gryhpon to call on if things went sour, even if he himself was in no condition to fight. He decided it was worth the risk.

"Alright, that's fair. I need information on a man named Hazel Rainart."

Junior frowned. "Hazel? I know the guy actually. Well, at least I used to. Why would you want to know about him?"

Jaune almost answered, but he clamped his mouth shut as a thought struck him. "Wasn't the deal a question for a question? If I answer that you won't get what you want to know."

Junior stared at Jaune over the rim of his sunglasses long enough that Jaune thought he was going to have to call Talon to come crashing in through the roof to save him, but the large man cracked a smile. "You're good at this kid. Yeah, that's right. I'm curious about why you want to know who Hazel is, but I also want to know the answer to my own question. If you have anything else you want to know you can ask me, so we'll be at an even two for two, or I can just get the info I really want. It's up to you."

As another thought occurred to Jaune he nodded slowly. "Yeah... actually I just thought of something, so two for two sounds fair. As for why I want to know about Hazel..."

Jaune leaned forward and pulled the folded not Hazel had left for him out from an inner coat on his pocket. "Hazel snuck into my hospital room and left this for me." Junior reached for it, but Jaune pulled it back and tucked it back into his coat. "Sorry Junior, but I wasn't showing you that for you to read. What it says is for my eyes only." He shrugged apologetically. "What I want to know is what kind of person Hazel is. I want to know whether or not I can trust him over... certain people in power."

Junior sighed. "Eh, that's fair I suppose." However Jaune didn't miss how his eyes lingered on where the Champion had tucked the note. "But to answer your question... when I first met Hazel he was a wreck. His sister had just died, and it had messed him up pretty bad. He was looking for work, and I took pity on the big guy and hired him as a bouncer. He spent his time not working drinking himself into a stupor, but he was always professional on the job, and had a knack for looking out for the girls who came to the club and dealing with any scumbags who tried to screw with them. Hazel was with us for... oh, about a year. In that time he cleaned his act up and got himself straightened out, though the death of his sister still stayed with him. When I last saw him Hazel said he'd found someone who would help him get his revenge on the one responsible for his sister's death, though he wouldn't say who. That's been years ago, and I haven't really heard from him since. Though I can do some digging if you like and forward anything I find to you."

Jaune nodded. "I would appreciate that. Do you need my scroll number?" he asked. As though on cue Jaune's scroll began buzzing. He went to pull it out, but Milita beat him to it, her hand reaching into the pocket of his pants and pulling it out. Though she 'accidentally' grabbed something else before she got her hands on the phone. Red faced and stammering Jaune took the scroll and looked at the caller ID. It wasn't anyone he recognized. "Eh, sorry. Let me just take this." He hit the accept call button and held the scroll up to his ear. "Hello?"

"That won't be necessary kid," Junior said with a smirk as he held up his own scroll from under the table. He hit the end call button, and Jaune's call disconnected. "Like I said, I either know it, I know someone who knows it, or I can find out."

Jaune made a point of slipping his scroll into a pocket of his jacket to avoid anymore 'accidental' gropings. "Fair enough. I still have one more question though."

Junior nodded. "Ask away."

Jaune sighed. "Has Ozpin ever been mixed up in anything... shady?"

Junior actually took off his sunglasses, a sure sign that Jaune had his full and undivided attention. "Well, I think I know at least a little bit about what that letter contained," Junior said with interest. "But if you must know... kid, part of being a huntsman is walking the fine line between a law abiding protector and a vigilante. More than a few cross over to one side or the other, but the best manage to walk that line. As headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin is _always_ mixed up in something shady. Maybe not necessarily immoral things, but at least some of what Ozpin has going on is illegal. It's the nature of his job." Junior sighed and knocked back another swig of whiskey. He refilled the bottle. "But that's not what you're asking. You're asking if you can trust Ozpin. To that kid, I say _hell no._ "

Jaune blinked in surprise. "Why?"

Junior swirled his glass. "You know that's technically another question, but you're still new to this, so I'll let it slide. Kid, I'd say you can trust Ozpin about as far as you can throw him, but considering some of the crazy feats of strength you pulled off at the battle of the Breach I think you could throw him pretty damn far, so I'll just settle for saying that you can't trust him, period. And here's why. Ozpin is a clever man, whose ruthlessness is just as great as his cunning and his ability to hide that ruthlessness. Ozpin will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, and will throw as many people under the bus as it takes to get the job done. That man has more blood on his hands than some of the most notorious bandit tribe leaders."

Junior knocked back his shot glass and refilled. Jaune would have been impressed by the man's constitution if he hadn't been so focused on what he was saying. "You remember earlier when I said that Hazel wanted revenge on the one who got his sister killed? Well that man was Ozpin. Hazel never talked about it sober, but I was able to pry the info out of him after a particularly hard binge drinking session. Basically Ozpin convinced Hazel's sister, Gretchen, to attend Beacon academy. He told her how much potential he saw in her, how strong she could be with the right training, how she had it in her to become a famous and loved huntress and blah blah blah." Junior chuckled dryly. There was no humor in the sound. "Thing is though, that all turned out to be a lie. Ozpin didn't want Hazel's sister, he wanted Hazel _himself._ Unfortunately for Ozpin Hazel never wanted to be a huntsman. He was his sister's sole provider and without him she'd never be able to make it. So when Ozpin realized he couldn't bring Hazel to Beacon directly he did so indirectly. He fed Gretchen his honeyed words and convinced her to go to Beacon, and where Gretchen went Hazel followed. It was somewhere in their second year when Gretchen died on a training mission. She got separated from her brother and overwhelmed by Grimm. There wasn't even enough left to bury. Hazel blamed Ozpin for her death and left the school behind. I don't know who Hazel's working for now kid, but whoever they are if Hazel's with them then you can bet they're no friends of your headmaster, and you shouldn't trust him either. I've heard all kinds of stories about Ozpin. Most of them are just rumors, but from what I know about the man I wouldn't be surprised if half of them were true."

Jaune sat back in his chair, many of his concerns about Ozpin becoming realized in that moment.

If what Junior was saying was true, and Jaune had a gut wrenching feeling that it was, then... by the Lady, _Pyrrha..._

"Well now that I've dropped that knowledge bomb on you, I believe you have to answer a question of mine now."

It was enough to bring Jaune back to reality, but much of his mind was still lingering on what Junior had just told him. "Oh, right. What do you want to know?"

Junior stared at Jaune intensely. The power of his gaze was enough to make Jaune begin focusing on the large man.

"Are you and Weiss Schnee in a relationship?"

And _that_ was enough to bring Jaune all the way back. "W-what?!"

"You and the Schnee heiress. You two in some kind of secret relationship?"

Jaune spluttered, his face going even redder than when the twins had helped him drink his water. "After everything I asked you, _that_ is what you want to know?"

Junior chuckled. "Kid, there are journalists out there who would _kill_ to find out whether or not the two of you are in a relationship. There are plenty of tabloids out there claiming you two are in some sort of secret relationship, that her father has arranged your marriage, that she's already pregnant with your kid, and so on." Junior waved his hand lazily as Jaune's face turned scarlet and his heart began pounding in his ears. "Fortunately no one with any sense ever reads those things, but they're kicking up enough dust that you should probably do something about it. If you can tell me yes or no I can tell the right people, and they can start putting those wild rumors to rest. Mostly, at least."

Jaune shook his head, still scarlet faced. "N-no, we're just friends, really. Weiss has just been helping me prepare for her father's party is all. We're just friends, really."

Junior nodded as his eys slid past Jaune to look at someone behind him. "Well that's good. The woman behind you doesn't strike me as someone who would share you anyway."

"Hello, Jaune."

Jaune turned his head, making sure to keep his torso still.

"Cinder?"

the onyx haired woman smiled at him. "I must say, this is the last place I expected to find you."

"Yeah, same here. Why _are_ you here?"

"Truthfully?" Cinder held up her scroll. "People have been squeaking your every move since the tea shop. You've probably got a horde of fans headed this way right now."

Jaune looked at Junior. "I don't guess that car is ready?"

Cinder cut in before the large man could reply. "There will be no need. I've already called a cab." She smiled charmingly at Jaune. "I took the liberty of calling one for you, as I thought you would wish to enter Azure Memorial the same way you exited it, silently and without drawing attention to yourself."

Despite himself Jaune felt his face heating up far more simply from Cinder smiling at him than the very physical attention of the Malachite twins, who were glaring viciously at the onyx haired beauty. "Uh, thanks Cinder." He realized he was staring at her and looked away. "I'll uh, let the other guys know."

Jaune did go to call them over from the table they had procured for themselves, but a hand on his stopped him and set his heart to pounding in his chest. "Actually Jaune, I was thinking that it would be better if it was just you and me. _Alone."_ Her charming smile took on another quality that set Jaune's heart to hammering so hard his chest hurt.

Well, it wasn't like they couldn't find their way back, right?

Surprisingly the others, especially Neptune, supported the idea. They volunteered to be the decoys and take a separate cab, convincing people that Jaune was still with them, while Jaune and Cinder's cab went the opposite direction towards Azure Memorial Hospital. With a quick thank you and good bye to Junior and the Malachite twins (who pointedly ignored Cinder) Cinder led Jaune outside to where the cab she'd called awaited. By this point Ren and the boys of SSSN had left and taken the vast majority of the people who had been camping outside with them, clearing the way for the two of them. As the two stepped outside, Jaune leaning on his cane for support and politely declining Cinder's offer to help him, Jaune saw the cab waiting for them, though cab wasn't the right word for it.

It was nothing short of a proper limousine with windows tinted dark enough so that people on the outside would not be able to see who was within the vehicle. Or what they were doing, a treacherous part of his mind added. Jaune looked at Cinder. "I thought it was just a cab?"

Cinder smiled at him, setting his heart pounding again, and brushed a lock of onyx hair aside. "Well, I may have understated just a bit, but its the same basic concept. Albeit a bit more extravagant and... _private_."

Red faced, Jaune allowed Cinder lead him to the limo and helped in him into the vehicle. He didn't miss how her thigh pressed against his as she sat as close to him as possible, despite the fact that there was more than enough room for both of them in the back. She told the driver their destination, and they set off.

* * *

Cinder wanted nothing more than to run her dagger into Jaune's throat here and now.

the only thing stopping her is that the list of suspects would be extremely short, namely just her. Even if she killed the driver too, hid both bodies and the car, she would still be the primary suspect as she was the last person seen with him. Normally she wouldn't mind having to go underground, but Cinder still didn't know the location of the Fall Maiden. She couldn't afford to make any rash moves that would jeopardize her plans. She knew that Jaune was now a part of Ozpin's inner council, and Cinder would bet that he knew the Fall Maiden's location. So Cinder would wait, bide her time, and get into Jaune's good graces. And his pants, if she could manage it. Though it wasn't Cinder's first choice of information gathering, nothing made a man talk quite so well as sleeping with him.

Though he seemed to be distracted and troubled. Despite their proximity Jaune had a far away look in his eyes as he stared out of the windows. Cinder hadn't caught most of whatever it was that he and Junior had been talking about, but she had been present for the part regarding Weiss. Cinder doubted that teenage romance drama would be enough to give Jaune the serious look he wore on his face. She reached out and brushed her hand against his. "Jaune?"

The boy in question jumped and turned to look at her. Cinder noted with delight that Jaune didn't pull his hand away from hers, which still rested atop his. "Oh, sorry Cinder. What's up?"

"You seem distracted," she said, putting on a false layer of concern over her words. "Is something bothering you?"

"Kinda," he admitted, "but I'll be fine, really."

"Is it something Junior told you?" She asked.

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, but like I said, I'll be fine." He smiled at her, which was admittedly charming. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Mmm, I bet." She bit her lip, rewarded by Jaune's face turning red yet again. "But if there's anything you want to talk about, I'll happily listen."

Jaune visibly relaxed. He stared at her for long moments, then shrugged as though he had come to some kind of decision. To Cinder's surprise he turned his hand over so that his was palm up and curled his hand around hers. "You've been a good friend these past few weeks Cinder. Thank you."

Cinder looked at her hand in his, resisted the urge to set his hand alight, and smiled deviously at him. "How very forward of you Jaune. If I didn't know any better I'd say that you were coming onto me."

"Who says I'm not?" Jaune retorted with a grin, though his cheeks were still a tad red.

Despite herself, Cinder laughed. This was an admittedly refreshing change, and there was nothing to stop her from enjoying herself before she had him killed.

Jaune's eyes widened. "Cin-"

With the screech of tires on pavement and a feeling like being bowled over by a cannon Cinder's world was turned upside down before she felt a sharp pain in her forehead and everything went black.

* * *

Jaune groaned and shook his head, trying to clear the dizziness. "By the Lady..."

One moment Jaune had been talking with Cinder, well flirting really, and the next...

The next he'd seen an eighteen wheeler bearing down on their limo. He hadn't had time to really even react before they had been slammed into. Jaune was thankful that he had been keeping his aura active in order to expedite the healing of its ribs, and _damn_ if those didn't hurt like hell right now, for if his aura had been down he didn't even want to think about what it would have done to his already weak torso.

As Jaune's eyes began to focus again the first thing he saw was Cinder slumped over in her seat, blood trickling down her face from a gash on her head. She wasn't moving. "Cinder," he gasped as he reached out to her. Carefully he titled her head up, and with a sigh of relief saw that she was still breathing. He looked through the small window that connected the front of the limousine to the back. The driver was slumped over in his seat, also not moving. From here Jaune couldn't see whether or not the man was breathing.

He heard the indistinct sound of people moving and shouting outside. Jaune tried to open the door on his side, but the impact had wedged it shut. With a grunt Jaune slammed his foot into the door as hard as he could. It went flying off of the limo's frame and clattered to the ground a few feet away. Jaune looped both arms around Cinder's chest. She moaned and her eyes began to flutter open. They were glassy and unfocused, and Jaune feared that she may have suffered a concussion. "Don't worry," he whispered as he dragged her out of the limo, "I've got you. You'll be alright."

The Champion laid Cinder on the ground and looked up at the people gathering around the wreck. "Someone help the... driver... oh no."

The roughly ten people gathered around the wreck were not there to help, or to even stand and stare.

The White Fang soldiers raised their rifles to their shoulders. Jaune threw himself in front of Cinder to shield her form as the faunus opened fire.

* * *

Nothing had gone right after the Bullhead had crashed.

Cardin's mace slammed into the howling maw of the Beowulf, flinging it through the air for several feet. It hit the ground and did not get back up. The newly anointed squire turned on his heel and smashed another Beowulf into the dirt even as Russel darted past him and cut the throat of a third Beowulf that had tried to jump the large ginger boy from behind. Cardin nodded his thanks to his teammate and surveyed the rest of the battle.

Dove and Sky were working together to bring down the Alpha Beowulf leading this particular pack. Sky used his pole axe to keep the beast at a distance and distract it while Dove darted in and cut it deeply with his blade before retreating behind Sky. Anytime the Alpha took its eyes off of the axe wielder to track the swordsman's movements it paid for that decision as Sky cut deep gashes in its hide whenever it looked away. Eventually their death of a thousand cuts tactic did its job, and the Alpha Beowulf hit the forest floor, dead.

Cardin looked to see if Nathaniel needed any aid, being the only one on his own. As the knight hacked the head off of one Beowulf, gutted another and flung the Grimm over his head and behind him, then smashed the knee of a third before grabbing the monster's neck and crushing its windpipe in his bare hand before bisecting his fourth victim down the middle with one swing, Cardin decided he was doing just fine on his own.

In truth Nathaniel was the only reason any of them were even still alive. Without his skill in battle and experience in living off the land the leader of CRDL doubted he and his team would have made it more than a week in the forest alone, if that.

As the last Beowulf fell to the ground in two pieces Nathaniel pushed the visor of his helmet up and looked at them. He had a light sheen of sweat on his brow, and was just beginning to breathe a bit heavier. Meanwhile Cardin and his teammates were soaked in sweat, gasping for air, and struggling to stand on their own.

"I suppose we should rest here for the night," Nathaniel said as he pulled off his helmet and dropped his pack to the ground. The four boys gratefully collapsed to the ground. As the others spread out on their backs and took in great mouthfuls of air Cardin couldn't help but stare at Nathaniel as the old knight rummaged in his pack and pulled out various utensils.

Their whole day had basically consisted of fighting one group of Grimm after another. From the commonplace Ursa and Beowulves, to more exotic species of Grimm such as a couple Beringels and even a damned _Geist_. Hell, that could really describe their entire week. Just day after day trudging through the wild lands and fending off the Grimm that consistently attacked them, day after day. Curiously enough whenever the boys of CRDL and Nathaniel set up camp they were never beset by the Grimm. It was as though something was shielding them from the monsters' sight. Nathaniel claimed that it must have been the Lady Vaya shrouding them from the creatures of Grimm to protect them and allow them time to rest and relax. Cardin found that hard to believe, but mainly because until recently Cardin's interaction with the divine had been, to put it simply, non existent. Russel and Dove shared his skepticism, but curiously Sky seemed to not only accept this as a possibility, but fully embraced it as the reason. Out of all of them Sky had been the most receptive to the idea of the Lady, and already seemed to be falling into the role of holy warrior. While Cardin certainly believed that Vaya existed, he had seen and experienced far too much to _not_ believe after all, he found it harder to fully accept and come to grips with his current situation. Cardin... Cardin had questions, he had a lot of questions that hadn't yet been answered, and that made it difficult to simply accept the Lady, and his role in her grand plan.

With that being said Cardin would still do what needed to be done to defeat the Grimm and redeem himself and his brothers. Cardin had seen the true face of the Grimm at the battle of the breach, and learned the truth of their origin from Jaune and Nathaniel. There could be no hesitation, no reservations. The enemy would have no mercy on them, and Cardin could have no mercy on them in return.

After camp was set up and the five of them were digging into their oh so delicious dried rations, Nathaniel continued with the lessons he had been giving them ever since they had set out from Vale.

"It was at the third siege of Caridin's Rest that the Order of Light first revealed their Gryphons. Unprepared for the sudden assault from above the Grimm were overwhelmed by the full might of tens of thousands of Gryphon mounted warriors and slaughtered wholesale. For the next decade the Grimm would be driven back in a series of high attrition campaigns across the whole of Remnant." Nathaniel eyes gleamed with excitement as he spoke. Few things got Nathaniel as excited as talking about the history of the Order, Cardin had come to learn.

"The most devastating of these wars was the Decline of Vacuo. Unbeknownst to modern historians Vacuo was once a thriving and lush land, full of life and vitality. Some of the Order's greatest strongholds were in Vacuo, and Salem attempted to destroy those strongholds using a Death Wind, a terrible conjuration that annhilates all life in a region. It was only through the prayers of Gryphon Knights and personal intervention by Vaya herself that anything at all was saved in Vacuo. The vast majority of the land becoming the rolling desert it is today. Thousands of Knights and Gryphons were killed by the Death Wind, alongside many tens of thousands of innocent people. Even by the standards of Salem devastation on such a level was wicked, and the Order's retaliation was brutal and swift. A year after the Death Wind swept over Vacuo the Gryphon Knights and allied kingdoms had carved a furious path of ruination straight towards Salem's mighty citadel and besieged it. Accounts of the length of the siege state that it lasted nearly ten years itself, Cailan leading the effort."

"Time and time again the United armies of the Order and those kingdoms that aided them assailed the walls of Salem's citadel. Time and time again they were beaten back. The Citadel was where Salem was at her strongest, and priests and warlocks had to strain day and night against Salem's powers, lest she destroy the army with her terrible magics. Oftentimes Salem herself sallied forth at the head of a Grimm horde, and the cost to drive her back was terrible for the besiegers. Eventually the cost grew too high, and they were forced to retreat. This defeat would mark the beginning of the end of the old Order of Light, for after the siege Salem would begin creating the dragons."

"Why didn't Salem create the dragons sooner?" Russel asked as he ran a whetstone over one of his daggers.

Nathaniel shrugged. "Who can say? Perhaps she simply did not think to create such beings until her need became great. Or perhaps there was another reason. Evil or not, Salem is still a goddess. The machinations of her mind are beyond mortals such as us."

"Why didn't Vaya do more to help?" Cardin asked. There was a note of accusation in his voice.

Nathaniel turned his gaze on Cardin. For just a second he swore the knight's eyes gleamed with an amber light, but older man sighed and visibly calmed herself. "What more could she have done, Cardin? Vaya expends so much of herself to give each and every one of us not only a physical body, but a _soul_. She gives of Herself to ensure that we can make our own choices for ourselves, even if they are not the choices She wants to make for us. She would stand no chance against Salem now, which is why the Order exists. We must protect her children Cardin, we are their shield and Her sword. We are the blazing spear thrust into the heart of darkness. We are the defenders of human and faunus kind."

This time Cardin was sure that he saw an amber glow in Nathaniel's eyes. For a moment the squire could see silhouettes of men and Gryphons standing behind Nathaniel. He looked over to his teammates and brothers, and knew from the fear and wonder in their eyes that they had seen it too.

"We are the Gryphon Knights." Nathaniel said, and it was as though ten thousand voices whispered the words as he said them, like the rustle of leaves in a wind.

 _"And we shall know no fear."_

* * *

 **WOOOOO! WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!**

 **I am so glad to finally be uploading another chapter of this story! This chapter has been through rewrite after rewrite, one thing after another. And finally, FINALLY, it is done! I hope the length and the quality of this chapter has made the wait worth it for all of you. Gryphon Knight will not die, this I swear to all of you. This story will have an ending even if it kills me.**

 **If you haven't already seen I've also come out with a new story: a Warhammer Age of Sigmar and RWBY crossover called Jaune Arc, Errant Questor.**

 **When Jaune Oathblade, Stormcast Eternal and Errant Questor of the Hallowed Knights and defender of the innocent, is cast out of the realms he has known all his life and into a strange world of unusual technology and magic, he sets out to find a way back home. But it quickly becomes apparent that not all is well in this 'Remnant'. Chaos lurks even here, and it may be that Jaune was sent for a purpose. Now Jaune must discover his purpose in Remnant. Why and how has he come to this strange realm? Was it a cosmic accident, the result of wild magic, or has Sigmar sent him to Remnant to save it? When darkness falls on the innocent and the forces of madness and insanity prey on the innocent, only the faithful will stand in defiance...**

 **If you like this story so far then feel free to follow and favorite it! If you have a friend who likes RWBY, RWBY fanfic, or you simply think that they would like this story then feel free to recommend it to them! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYYYYYYEEEEE!**

 **Want to send a few bucks my way? Here's a link to my P a treon account! https:(slash)(slash).com(slash)user?u=4652041**


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